What Is A Postnuptial Agreement?
Most people understand what a prenup is, but what is a postnuptial agreement? This is an agreement many couples entering into marriage may not know about, but they should. How can a postnuptial agreement help you and your partner?
What Is A Postnuptial Agreement?
A postnuptial agreement is very similar to a prenuptial agreement. The main difference is that the agreement is entered into after marriage as opposed to before. Just like a prenuptial agreement, a postnup is there to help dictate how assets and real estate will be divided in the case of a divorce. Postnuptial agreements can also help protect one spouse from the other spouse’s debts. While a postnup is most closely associated with infidelity and marital issues, it can be a very beneficial tool for a successful marriage.
How Can A Postnuptial Agreement Help You?
There are many ways that a postnup can help you and your spouse, and protect your interests. In California, property acquired during the marriage is presumed to be community property in a divorce. Community property means that both spouses own the property and assets equally, and they will be equally divided in court. Many California couples choose to create a postnup to avoid this equal division and to instead have assets divided as they wish. What are some examples of a postnup being beneficial?
Affairs & Infidelity
This is probably the most recognized reason for acquiring a postnup. If two parties enter into a marriage trusting one another, and post-marriage that trust is broken, many couples turn towards a postnuptial agreement for help. The potential for the marriage to not work out comes to the forefront of the couple’s mind, and they are forced to think about what the dissolution of their marriage might look like. This causes people to create a postnup to protect their assets and interests and hopefully support restoring trust.
Excessive Arguments & Turmoil
Similarly to an affair, excessive arguments can cause couples to reevaluate the security of their marriage. When couples have a lot of animosity between them, they act impulsively and in anger, and can do things that they may later regret. This is why divorces turn ugly so often. For a couple who recognizes the signs of a marriage going downhill and worry about things getting back on track, setting up a postnup to protect against negative decisions made in anger is a smart decision.
Business Owners
For a spouse or spouses who start a business after they become married, setting up a postnuptial agreement can protect both parties in the case of dissolution of the marriage. A postnup can also protect parties who owned a business prior to getting married. A postnup can protect spouses from debts acquired from a failing business. It can also protect future earnings from being equally distributed between both spouses when one spouse does all the work and solely owns the business.
Inheritance
If one spouse acquires a large inheritance and wants to protect this amount in the case of a divorce, a postnup is a smart decision. It can also protect the inheritance if the spouse invests it into a family business or personal business.
Children & Property Prior to Marriage
If one spouse owns property pre-marriage or has children from a previous marriage that they need to provide for, a postnuptial can protect against an ugly divorce and can maintain one’s assets and real estate.
Debts
If a spouse enters into a marriage with a lot of debt, or if they acquire debt post-marriage, one spouse may want to set up a postnup to protect themselves from being held responsible for a debt they had nothing to do with.
Postnups can be incredibly effective when protecting oneself from an ugly divorce, or from the community property law in California. If you and your spouse are interested in setting up a postnuptial agreement, get in touch with one of our experienced attorneys. Couples seeking a postnup can use the same legal counsel as opposed to a prenup where separate counsel for each party is required. Set up a free 30-minute consultation here to begin setting up your postnuptial today.
David Patton
David Patton is a Family Law Specialist as certified by The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization, limiting his practice to family law exclusively. He heads the firm’s family law practice. Mr. Patton has 30 years of experience as a trial lawyer, spending his early years focusing on insurance defense and plaintiff’s personal injury cases. After co-founding Lonich Patton Ehrlich Policastri in 1994, Mr. Patton developed the firm’s family law practice. Since then, he has become one of Silicon Valley’s top family law attorneys. Mr. Patton is a certified family law specialist. Only attorneys certified by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization may represent themselves as such.
