Most people realise that when you get divorced you have to split the property between you, so that everything you’ve bought as a couple gets divided equally. Whether that be your furniture, your CD collection or your house; everything has to be split equally between you.

However what you might not realise is that it’s not just the property you bought together that gets split between you. You also have to share the property you had before you were married, before you were going out together and before you even met!

This means that things you had as a child are considered shared property. Things you were given as gifts, even birthday presents and Christmas presents, are shared property.

So if you’ve got a collection of comics from your childhood, a car that you’ve had for years or even a house that you’ve lived in for generations; if you get married and then divorced, she has a claim to it.

Not even a prenuptial agreement can save you either, as they’re legally binding in the UK.

Clive Bellmore