I'm actually Finnish, but getting married to an English man this July in Finland. We both want to make a pre-nupt but he thinks it doesn't make a difference where you make it because it's all in the EU... I've since found out that this is most certainly not the case, and in my opinion if we had the pre-nupt made in Finland and also explicitly stated that we wish to have Finnish laws applied to our marriage it would also protect him more, because...
1) in the UK pre-nupts are not really recognised, so potentially by stating we wish to apply Finnish law that would actually be the case
2) in Finland the marital rights extend to the past, whereas in the UK they also extend into the future (or this is at least how I understand it), i.e. rights to future earnings exists in the UK but not in Finland (this would also protect him)
3) Finnish law is actually fair to all parties, and states that all equity owned before marriage belogs to the spouse whereas it's far more fuzzy in the UK
Both of us have property - mine is in Finland, his is in the UK, and he's likely to inherit more in the near future. It's not big money in the grand scheme of things, but e.g. I own a family summer cottage which, in the case of e.g. a childless divorce, stay in the family (my parents have passed away and have 2 half-sisters). I have no desire for his possessions and am only trying to protect mine - just in the case we divorce and as everyone knows, people act very bizarrely when they're hurt, and so would like to avoid any confusion at that kind of situation.
What I'm after is:
1) comprehensive information on Finnish marital law in English
2) experiences of this kind of situation - Finnish + English spouses making a pre-nupt, or getting divorced (any problems you may have had)
3) contacts of lawyers in Helsinki for international family law
Any help would be much appreciated!!!
P.S. You can also email me directly at xiphiase (aa) g mail.com
