Legal and Illegal Prenuptial Agreements
Creating a prenuptial agreement before a marriage is an excellent idea. It protects your interests in the event that you and your spouse divorce down the line. It also prompts you and your spouse to communicate about important issues like finances, property, and shared bank accounts.
But you must understand the difference between a legal and illegal prenup to ensure that yours holds up in court. Know what you can and cannot include in a prenuptial agreement under Pennsylvania law and how to validate one.
What Items Can a Prenup Include?
One way to ensure a legal and valid prenuptial agreement is to address only the specific items that can be covered in these agreements. Typically, you can include provisions about all of the following in a prenup:
- Asset division: Distinctions about marital vs. separate property in a divorce, including what happens to shared property, what property will stay separate, etc.
- Spousal support: Whether one spouse will owe the other spousal support, waiving future requests for spousal support, the minimum or maximum amount owed, etc.
- Providing for children from previous relationships: If one spouse has a child from a previous relationship, the prenup can include provisions for how both partners will financially provide for them and what assets (if any) the child would receive in a divorce.
Meanwhile, a prenuptial agreement generally cannot protect any of the following:
- Child custody and support: Your prenuptial agreement cannot include terms regarding child support or custody. The court will decide these matters in the final judgment based on the child’s interests, not the parents’.
- Financial incentives for divorce: The prenup cannot encourage divorce in any way, such as providing a financial incentive for filing for divorce
- Day-to-day household matters: This agreement shouldn’t cover any day-to-day household matters like who will complete certain chores, how you will raise children, what religious beliefs you will adhere to, etc.
- Anything inherently unfair: Prenups should spell out terms that are fair and just for both spouses and should not explicitly favor either spouse. Attempting to enact unfair terms could lead to a contempt of court charge in a divorce.
How Do You Validate a Prenuptial Agreement?
Take these steps to ensure that your prenuptial agreement is valid:
- Put the agreement in writing. Oral prenuptial agreements are never valid.
- Ensure full disclosure: You and your spouse must fully disclose your finances to ensure the prenup will hold up in court.
- Have an attorney draft it. Don’t create a prenuptial agreement without the help of an attorney. Better yet, you and your spouse should enlist separate attorneys to support your interests.
- Notarize the agreement. Have a notary sign and validate the prenup and give you a certified copy.
Karen Ann Ulmer, P.C., Offers Support With Prenuptial Agreements
Do you need help distinguishing between a legal and illegal prenup and ensuring the validity of your agreement? Karen Ann Ulmer, P.C., can help you draft a prenuptial agreement that will hold up to court orders, enforcement actions, and legal scrutiny. Contact us today at (866) 349-4117 for a consultation.
