When two people meet, fall in love and decide to marry, they hope to live happily ever after – but some marriages do end in divorce. And this explains why more and more couples are signing prenuptial agreements before tying the knot.
A prenuptial agreement, also known as a prenup, is a legal contract that couples sign before marriage to establish each party’s property rights in the unfortunate event of a divorce. For your prenup to be valid, however, it must be valid. Here are three questions that can help you ascertain the validity of your prenuptial agreement:
1. Was it made in writing?
A prenup cannot be verbal; otherwise, it will boil down to a “he said, she said” matter in the heat of the divorce. Rather, it must exist in writing. And that’s not all; the agreement must be signed by both parties.
2. Was it signed under duress?
Like in any contract, you should never sign a prenup under duress. And neither should you trick your spouse to sign one. Undue influence can manifest in a number of ways such as demanding that your spouse signs the prenup in exchange for a beach wedding.
3. Does it contain invalid provisions?
A prenup can and should stipulate each party’s financial obligations. However, it cannot waive or alter statutory obligations like child support. In other words, a prenup cannot contain provisions that violate the law.
Safeguarding your rights
A prenup is one of the most important legal documents you can ever sign. Learning how prenups work as well as what you can, or cannot, include in one can help you avoid unpleasant surprises should your marriage end in a divorce.