经济学人160:离婚保险,可能缓和痛苦

 　　Divorce insurance

　　离婚保险
　　I do (conditions apply)
　　我愿意申请条件
　　Ending a marriage is horrid 1. Insurance might ease the pain
　　离婚是可怕的，保险可能缓和痛苦
　　DIVORCE, like any other risk, can be priced and packaged. With half of all marriages doomed 2 to fail, even the moderately hardheaded may be interested in ways of mitigating 3 the danger.
　　离婚，像其他任何冒险投资一样，可以标价与打包。由于所有的婚姻中，一半都注定失败，甚至温和的不感情用事者也可能对减少危险的方法感兴趣。
　　So hopes ARAG, a German-based insurance firm. From September it will offer a kind of divorce insurance that will pay out if English prenuptial agreements are subject to a legal challenge. Such policies are already common in some continental 4 European countries such as Germany and Spain, and are offered by some American employers as a perk 5. But they are so far unknown in Britain, chiefly because prenuptial agreements have had little legal force in English law (Scotland’s legal system is separate). Judges have traditionally given much greater weight to circumstances at the end of the marriage than to any agreements made at the start.
　　所以，像德国保险公司ARAG所希望的那样。从九月开始，它将提供一种离婚保险，它将为那些受法律挑战支配的英国婚前协定付费。像这样的策略在欧洲大陆国家，例如德国和西班牙，已是正常，同样一些美国雇主也会将此作为额外津贴发给员工。然而，到目前为止，这些策略在英国还是不被人知的，主要是因为这些婚前协议在英国法律（苏格兰法律除外）面前是几乎没有法律效力的。传统上，比起婚前的任何协议，法官们对婚姻结束时的事项给予了更多的重视。
　　That changed in October last year, when a Supreme 6 Court ruling upheld a German heiress’s prenup against a challenge from her ex-husband, who claimed he hadn’t realised that it was unfairly one-sided when he signed it. The Law Commission, which helps Parliament tidy up legislation, is currently looking into a statutory framework for prenuptial agreements.
　　去年十月这种情况改变了，当最高法院规定支持德国的一名女继承人的婚前协议而反对她前夫的质疑。她前夫声称他在签署婚前协议时他没有意识到这是不公正的片面的。帮助国会修整法规的法律委员会，当前正在为婚前协议寻找法律框架。
　　The new insurance is hedged with conditions. It starts paying out if the prenup is challenged in court—so the company’s profit will come from making that unlikely. Only solicitors 7 vetted 8 by the insurers can draft the deals; the prenups must be updated regularly and when circumstances alter (through childbirth, inheritance or changes in earning power, for example). So far two legal firms have signed up: the upmarket Mishcon de Reya, and Prolegal, a commercially minded new entrant。
　　新的保险受到各种条件的束缚。如果婚前协议在法庭中受到质疑，公司则开始为顾客赔偿，因此公司只有使这种情况不要发生才能盈利。只有通过审查的初级律师才能起草协议；当客观环境发生变化的时候（比如孩子出生，继承或赚钱能力的改变），婚前协议必须定期地升级。到目前为止，只有两家法律公司签署了合同：高级的Mishcon de Reya和一个商业上有思想的新参与者Prolegal。
　　The cover will range from ?50,000 to ?500,000, says ARAG, with annual premiums 9 from ?500, depending on the scope of the policy and the priciness of the lawyers. The bare-bones version is simply an indemnity 10 for the cost of a challenge to the prenup; elaborate policies will include other expenses such as mediation 11 and, if that fails, the cost of a contested divorce.
　　ARAG说费用将会从5万欧元到50万欧元，年度保险费从500欧元起。这取决于保险单的范围和律师的费用。大体的描述就是对婚前协议受质疑的花费而提供的一个简单赔偿；详细的策略将包含其他费用，比如调停，以及如果调停失败后纷争离婚的花费。
　　Unlike those for car insurance, the premiums are flat rates: the libidinous 12 will pay the same as the uxorious 13. But an American divorce-insurance company, SafeGuard, is planning a more ambitious product that will pay a big bonus to those who stay married for 25 years. Sounds like a nice wedding present.
　　与那些车险不同的是，保险费是统一费用：好色者与溺爱妻子者将会付出同样的代价。但是，名叫安全保卫的一家美国离婚保险公司，正计划一项更有野心的产品，会为那些结婚25年的人支付一大笔红利。听起来像一件不错的结婚礼物。