Pre-Nuptial Agreements and Post-Nuptial Agreements

Pre-Nuptial and Post-Nuptial Agreements allow two people to determine in advance what will happen financially if the relationship ends. While this is not the most romantic thing to do, it is a way to create peace and peace of mind in the relationship.

A Pre-Nuptial or Post-Nuptial agreement will allow you to protect yourself, your prospective spouse or your current spouse. (most people are not aware that you can enter into a Post-Nuptial Agreement after you are already married.)

Pre-Nuptial and Post-Nuptial Agreements can be very flexible and will address things like:

How will we pay our household living expenses during the marriage? How will we divide our assets and debts if the relationship ends? Will one spouse be entitled to spousal maintenance? Will our income during the marriage be treated as community property or as each spouse's separate property? What if I owned a business before the marriage, what happens to it? What if I owned a rental home before the marriage, what happens to it?

Just because pre-nuptials and post-nuptials can be flexible does not mean they are necessarily simple. Depending on the parties, some agreements can be very simple, but others can be quite complex.

Regardless of the simplicity or complexity of the agreements, by law Pre-Nuptial and Post-Nuptial Agreements must be:

• Written;
• Voluntary;
• Fair (or at least not unconscionable);
• The result of full disclosure by both parties; and
• Signed by the parties and, if represented, their lawyers.

No matter what else a Pre-Nuptial or Post-Nuptial Agreement may state, if it does not meet these five points, it may not be enforceable when you need it.

If you would like to contact Owens & Perkins regarding Pre-Nuptial and Post-Nuptial Agreements, click here or call us at 480.994.8824.