Post-Nuptial Agreements Now, Too!
Remember when I went on and on awhile back about pre-nuptial agreements and how they absolutely positively have to be negotiated and executed well before the nuptials are spoken? Well anyhow, you can forget about all that.
That's because our resourceful Supreme Court has just pronounced that it's legal after all to enter into a post-nuptial agreement. In other words, even if you got too wrapped up in the wedding planning to ink the agreement before the big day, now you can still do it after the honeymoon.
As with the pre-wedding type, there are a few nagging requirements: The agreement needs to be fair and reasonable; it can't be the result of fraud or duress; and it has to include a full disclosure of each party's assets, so each will be clear about what's being given up in the process.
Then, if all the T's are crossed and I's are dotted, the result can include a waiver of any other rights to your property if the bonds of
matrimony don't take or if it results in your demise. That's pretty significant because up until now, if you divorced (still about 1 in 2 odds) or if you wanted to disinherit your spouse (banish that thought!), you couldn't predetermine the outcome.
That is, after the wedding vows were spoken, even if you decided what each of you would take away in the event of a breakup - maybe you the FL condo and (s)he the ski lodge - it wouldn't be binding when the split
occurred. And even if your will left your betrothed little or nothing - because (s)he had plenty of her/his own stuff - there could still be a claim to a pretty hefty share of your stuff anyhow. These new agreements will allow you to decide those issues ahead of time, and then go your separate ways, once and for all, in peace. OK, maybe peace is a bit much, but you get the idea.
Posted 08/26/2013
That's because our resourceful Supreme Court has just pronounced that it's legal after all to enter into a post-nuptial agreement. In other words, even if you got too wrapped up in the wedding planning to ink the agreement before the big day, now you can still do it after the honeymoon.
As with the pre-wedding type, there are a few nagging requirements: The agreement needs to be fair and reasonable; it can't be the result of fraud or duress; and it has to include a full disclosure of each party's assets, so each will be clear about what's being given up in the process.
Then, if all the T's are crossed and I's are dotted, the result can include a waiver of any other rights to your property if the bonds of
matrimony don't take or if it results in your demise. That's pretty significant because up until now, if you divorced (still about 1 in 2 odds) or if you wanted to disinherit your spouse (banish that thought!), you couldn't predetermine the outcome.
That is, after the wedding vows were spoken, even if you decided what each of you would take away in the event of a breakup - maybe you the FL condo and (s)he the ski lodge - it wouldn't be binding when the split
occurred. And even if your will left your betrothed little or nothing - because (s)he had plenty of her/his own stuff - there could still be a claim to a pretty hefty share of your stuff anyhow. These new agreements will allow you to decide those issues ahead of time, and then go your separate ways, once and for all, in peace. OK, maybe peace is a bit much, but you get the idea.
Posted 08/26/2013