Many couples have heard of a “prenup,” but usually, that’s where the familiarity ends. The process of developing a prenuptial agreement can be an emotional and difficult one. Couples typically know what topics and issues they want to address in the prenuptial agreement, but they aren’t often well-versed in the off-limits topics. You can save yourself a lot of wasted time, money, and stress by avoiding topics that cannot be included in a prenuptial agreement.
Five Issues You Cannot Address in Your Prenup
You don’t want to waste time submitting a document you know will be rejected, so it’s best to work together with your soon to be ex-spouse. When you are working on your prenuptial agreement, here are five issues to avoid:
- Custody Arrangements: You cannot outline future custody arrangements in your prenuptial agreement. Custody agreements are matters for after the marriage has failed. Additionally, the court system determines custody using various factors that address the well-being of the child.
- Divorce Incentives: Couples are not allowed to include enticements that could be used to encourage a divorce with favorable terms in other divorce matters. The court is likely to throw out the prenuptial agreement if it’s determined it encourages divorce.
- Physical Appearance: A prenuptial agreement can’t include stipulations regarding the weight, height, hair color, or any standard of physicality. Prenuptial agreements are created to wield and direct assets. Anything besides topics relating to financial matters will likely be removed, or the document will be thrown out.
- Inequitable Terms: Including clauses and topics that serve the purpose of controlling a spouse’s actions or restricting their choices would be interpreted as unfair and one-sided. If the court reviews the document and deems that it favors one party over the other, the prenup will be thrown out because it’s exploitative.
- Off-Document Agreements: The point of a prenuptial agreement is to clearly dictate the terms of any financial assets and debts if the marriage should end. Off-document agreements between spouses could negatively impact the validity of the prenup. As a legal instrument, it needs to be able to stand up in court as a valid legal document. If side arrangements were allowed to be included,
Family Law Attorney
If you are working on creating terms for your prenuptial agreement, the best thing you can do is make your document as fair as possible. You need to ensure you and your future spouse are treated as equals in the document. If working on the document together isn’t working for your situation, it could be in your best interest to enlist the help of legal representation. An attorney can help ensure your document is free from inappropriate requirements.
If you need help with your annulment, then one of the attorneys from Tinny, Meyer & Piccarreto, P.A., would be happy to answer any of your questions. Call us at (727) 245-9009 or reach out to us online right now.