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Subscribe to RSSThough it's relatively rare, there are ways to break a prenup.
Agreements are just agreements, after all, says Paul Talbert, a matrimonial lawyer in New York. "The most common way is paperwork mistakes," adds Talbert.
He's had clients come in to divorce and produce a copy of their prenuptial agreements. A form wasn't filled out correctly, and the prenup is derailed, says Talbert.
There are no statistics on how many prenuptial agreements are made a year, says Randall M. Kessler, a divorce lawyer in Atlanta, but he estimates that half of high-net-worth marriages have prenups. And, he says, "Overall, I'd say prenups are ten times more common than they were 20 years ago, when I started practicing. It's not taboo anymore."
Whether you can break a prenup depends mostly on where you live, as laws and judicial tradition vary by state. Beyond geography, what matters is how the agreement is drafted.
Prenups usually specify a division of assets, should a couple divorce down the road, and the reason for drafting one is that one or both parties want to protect the wealth they had coming into the marriage.
Frequently, prenups also dictate how much alimony an ex-spouse will receive if there is a divorce, and sometime detail the amount of child support as well. But since these are private agreements, anything goes.
Kessler knows of cases in which the prenup stated that in-laws aren't allowed to visit more than once a month.
David Steerman, a family law attorney in Philadelphia, has heard of cases with clauses, "where if you gain more than 10 pounds, that can be cause for divorce, or if you change your hair color, you might be rewarded extra in a prenup."
Steerman thinks that might not get very far in court, but he notes, "I have done some agreements with an infidelity clause."
If the marriage breaks up due to an affair, the cheater has to pay even more to the other spouse.
So if you're regretting that prenup, here are some situations that might make your prenup null and void.
1. Your spouse wasn't honest about assets
You may think outright fraud should be enough to break any legal agreement, but it can still be tough to overturn a prenup based on fraud. In New York, for example, even if a spouse hides a few million dollars in a bank account, that may not be enough, says Talbert. It depends on intent. If someone is worth $100 million and they don't report $3 million, the court probably won't see that as a big deal.
But if someone says they're worth $400,000 and doesn't report $3 million, that may not go over well with the judge.
R. Scott Downing, a family law attorney in Dallas, Texas, had a client who was able to get her prenup overturned after a court ruled her husband had community property worth millions that he hadn't disclosed to his wife.
One of the husband's downfalls was that he had given his wife a revised prenup on their wedding day. When she said she wanted to call her attorney, he lied, saying that her attorney had said it was okay to sign it.
"People need to know that if you're going to promise somebody a complete disclosure in a prenup, you'd better give it to them," says Downing.
2. You were coerced into signing the prenup
"Literally, you'd have to have a gun next to your head," says Steerman, who finds coercion difficult to prove. "I've never had a case in over 23 years of practicing family law where a client claimed coercion or duress."
Steerman says even if a bride was told as she walked down the aisle that she needed to sign a prenup or the wedding would be called off, it would not be considered duress.
Inconvenient or rude, perhaps, but not enough to overturn a legal agreement in Pennsylvania.
But in New Jersey, where Steerman also practices, he says that a prenup case involving coercion would have a much better chance at being overturned.
3. There are unenforceable conditions
By unenforceable, think repugnant. Such as if your prenup says that your ex won't provide child support. "It would have to shock the conscience and be something that no person in their right mind would agree to," says Heidi Opinsky, a divorce attorney in Connecticut. "There's a very high bar."
Still, it happens.
Silvana Raso, a family law attorney in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, had one client with a prenup that said she had to move out in a certain number of days in the event of divorce. Meanwhile, the couple had a child.
"He wanted to move the girlfriend in the house, and he wanted to chase the mother and newborn out of the house," says Raso. She was able to get the court to agree that the mother and baby needed more time to find a place to stay.
Raso had another case in which a wife agreed to take no alimony, but, then, during her marriage, she developed a mental illness and was not able to support herself. Raso was able to get the courts to agree to break the prenup, much to the husband's chagrin.
"I've never met a spouse who wanted to pay alimony," says Raso. "Nobody feels it's fair."
(The author is a Reuters contributor. The opinions expressed are his own.)
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"There's one for you and nineteen for me" for I am the ex.
Problems of the rich and well off...many feel they would like to have their problems, but many of them were really happier people when they were mid to lower class status.
Frankly, prenups are MORE important to mid/lower class. Rent "Eddie Murphy: Raw" and pay attention to the part where he talks about 'half.' If you have $50 million and have to give up $25 million, that is an impact for sure, but not to the tune of the guy or gal who has a $200K home with a $100K mortgage entering the marriage and then divorce sets in and he/she wants their $50K of equity. That sets one person back significantly.
In other words, in a divorce, one $200K house divided does not result in two $200K homes, whereas the millions just give up 'one' of the several homes they have to the other party, so maybe it's no more weekends in the Hamptons for a while, but it isn't like the impacts for the mid/lower income earners.
If you don't like the prenup, don't sign it and cancel the wedding. If the prenup is unconscionable to you, then the party presenting it to you is probably going to be that way as well.
It's really just that simple.
Perception doesn't equal reality. It's really just that simple.
American Men are complete IDIOTS.
When you get married you agree to take care of your wife as long as you are MARRIED!!!!!!!
The minute she sleeps with your best friend or turns into a psycho robe wearing bom bom eating fat depressing do nothing blob and you hate her and want to get rid of her........she can get her own life together.
Why are men expected to support some one they do not trust or no longer want to see????????????
The biased courts, womens movement and the attack on MEN is this country is only been able to get so freaking lopsided biased against men b/c men are IDIOTS!
And no wonder the arabs are willing to die to keep western laws and culture out of their lands. Women control american men and get away with murdering them too if they want to and maybe serve a week in jail.
And no wonder the marriage rate has dropped off the cliff, many men no longer want to get married.
Any man with any sense would avoid a contract that makes you have 50% chance of losing 50% of what you worked your entire life for on the whim of a woman. The courts actually PROMOTE divorce and its like hitting the lotto for the women.
How can any man be so stupid?
And thats why prostitution is illegal because women do not want any competition......it should be legal ....that would go along way to putting american women back on an equal playing field where they should be .
The mere mention of a prenup between partners almost seems to guarantee the starting point of a downward slide in the relationship. People should re-examine what marriage is for as well as their own motives for wanting marriage before attemtpting it.
That's like saying that having auto insurance almost seems to guarantee having an accident. There's nothing wrong about taking steps to protect yourself. People change. Things happen. A couple could have a tramautic event that would drive them apart. Or one could make a horrible mistake that the other cannot forgive. Preparing for that possibility should not be considered a downward slide in the relationship.
Alverant- you make some valid points. Keep in mind, life is a total risk. You can marry someone and 20 years later find out they've had torrid affairs and all kinds of awful things. People do change. Being prepared, as you say, would seem wise. However, my point is that a prenup drives a wedge between the commitment because it instills a certain distrust up front.
It's like saying "I love you more than life itself- I want to be with you forever and a day! I'm willing to share the most intimate parts of myself with you, even wipe your back end if needed. But if you don't sign my prenup we can never be together because I don't entirely trust you and what you'll do down the road"
See the conflict?
No i do not see the conflict.
If you really loved me you would not make me sign the pre nup....right?
WRONG!!!!!!! The courts are 100000% BIASED IN THE WOMENS FAVOR!
So it is : IF you love me you will sign this pre nup to prove to me that my money and all the money i make the rest of my LIFE= is not why you are marrying me. If we divorce I'll help you out some but you do not get 50% of what i WORKED MY ASS OFF FOR while you went to the store and spent my money and maybe cleaned the house------like living for free and not working makes you deserve 50% of everything i made or will make.
As a woman, I would not get married without a pre-nup. At a very minimum, the pre-nup process forces a couple to talk about all sorts of important issues like what their current finances really look like, whether you expect one to work at home when kids come etc (things people should discuss anyway, but often don't).
S.- you just described a contract- a prenup is not a living contract that establishes limits and expectancies between partners. A prenup only protects assets in the event that a divorce would take place. However, the divorce court will ultimately decide their fate since children may be involved and consider other factors like the length of the marriage, etc.
Fake media wrote "If you really loved me you would not make me sign the pre nup....right?"
This is the same formula for paternity fraud, primarily through "shotgun" weddings.
If I were a rich man,
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
I would make me a killer prenupt
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
If I were a biddy biddy rich,
Yidle-diddle-didle-didle man.
Marriage is a license to rape you of wealth.
My prenup is unbreakable.
"I don't"
if you go into signing a prenup is like setting your marriage for failure cause in the back of your brain you are thinking somehow it is not going to work that is why you want to be prepare.
If you go in to one with out one you are an IDIOT
50% of them FAIL, so the next investment guy you see says put all your money in and you have a 50% chance of losing 50% of it and a 50% chance of keeping what you worked your ass off for and you say ok dude i'll take it sign me up but just @!$%# me once a week.
Let's break this down:
Today, every state has a "no fault" divorce law. This means a divorce is either granted or denied, with no indemnity to the person who cheated, stole, or whatever.
Today, most states have a minimum length of marriage before community property laws apply. Sadly, where I live, it's 24 months.
And without any prenuptial agreement, state laws stand. She makes $30K/year and you make $300k/year? You bought a 4,000 sq. ft. home, have a retirement fund, and even savings? Here, without a PNA, she gets half of *all* of it after 2 years.
And you see women here getting married regularly ever 3 years, cashing in on it.
My take is, what happens if I am incapacitated for a period of time and need to rely on her to help support me and cover bills? Is she going to be able to step up as a partner and spouse here? Or is she going to cry and end up losing my house and she runs of to her mother's and starts looking for the next guy to pay her way?
Bottom line: either bring back Fault-based divorce where the one at fault paid more or lost all benefits, or require a prenup for every marriage. When there was fault-based divorce, more women actually took care of their husbands, and men were also less likely to cheat, knock someone up, and even STDs were more rare.
As for the prostitution comment : Women who refuse to sign a prenup when there is a disparate income between the two involved are clearly banking on a payout if things blow up. How is that any different?
And for a quick history lesson: Prostitution was outlaws by the Women's Christian Temperance Union just over 100 years ago because 'it makes it too easy for men to cheat'. The humor about this? These are the same women touting the "If you aren't taking care of your wife at home, someone else somewhere else will" line. You can't have it both ways. If you were taking care of your man at home, he wouldn't need to find another woman, and prostitution isn't what promotes cheating. It's being unhappy at home. Not enough sex, working his tail off to pay bills with little to no appreciation, and the stresses of having his life revolving around yours.
Personally, I think prostitution is already legal with women using sex to get married, then relying on marriage to get the cash payout on the back end.
Well said. Let's look at other laws that allow a divorced woman to claim Social Security survivor benefits for a marriage of only 10 years.
Marriage is in desperate need of reform. Current laws benefit women and family court. Instead, society is focused on same-sex marriage.
Dear ProFreedom
There is no conflict. You are not dooming the marriage either. You are simply saying should the "unthinkable" happen we, in large part, already agreed upon much of the epilogue. No expensive lawyers, cat fights, and much less yelling and in fighting. By your argument if you avoid arranging for your own (or family's) burial plot and/or arrangements you will never die.
I guess no one can argue with logic.
The mere fact no one has logical arguments against the facts some guys presented above is proof that the laws are BIASED!
Never thought about fault divorce, thanks for the info.
I have over heard a group of women at a restaurant laughing about how they scammed men and used divorce to make a living, women are a protected class in the courts and men need to raise hell about it ,because our rights are being abused.
Equal rights are a joke ,they HAVE preferential rights at mens rights expense.