Marriage settlement (England)

A marriage settlement in England and Wales was a historical arrangement whereby, most commonly and in its simplest form, a trust of land or other assets was established jointly by the parents of a bride and bridegroom. The trustees were established as legal owners of the assets, and the bride and bridegroom as beneficial owners of the assets during their lifetimes, and after their deaths, beneficial ownership would descend to one or more of the children of the union. The marriage settlement should not be confused with the modern prenuptial agreement, which is concerned mainly with the division of assets after divorce. Such settlements were also commonly made in the British colonies in North America, among families with assets to protect.

Purposes

A marriage settlement was a means of ensuring the proper use of a

.

Historic usage

The marriage contract was in common use from the earliest times, and throughout the

, the abandonment of primogeniture as a desirable social model, and the comparatively modern trend of the "working wife and mother", who earns her own money and is often financially independent of her husband.

References

Further reading

• "Marriage Settlements in England and Wales", Family Search, article published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Settlements and entails, University of Nottingham, Manuscripts and Special Collections department
• Habakkuk, H.J.,Marriage Settlements in the Eighteenth Century, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Fourth Series, Vol. 32, (1950), pp. 15–30, Cambridge University Press