Marital agreements which include prenuptial (before the marriage) agreements and antenuptial or postnuptial (after the marriage) agreements are a common sight in pop culture, but with their common sight comes many misconceptions. Marital agreements require an understanding of the law and careful eye to become enforceable in court. Although the agreement itself is a contract, you are not able to make any arrangements that are outside of the law. This can often times challenge the writer to ensure each provision will be upheld.
When deciding whether you want a marital agreement beyond whether your significant other wants one, you have to decide what exactly you want to get out of it. Some common areas couples contract on are:
· Property
· Spousal maintenance (what used to be called alimony)
· Insurance
· And Retirement accounts.
For the distribution of property, there are multiple different avenues a person couple can take in order to make the best arrangements possible. You can decide where certain property should go, the management or control of any property, and where certain property should go in the event of something happening.
Marital agreements, however, cannot cover any issues related to child support.
Spousal maintenance is often times a hotly disputed topic in the event of divorce. This topic often makes a difficult situation much worse. One of way of making this time go smoother is by coming up with an agreement that protects the rights of both individuals before an issue arises.
Insurance and retirement accounts are important because they represent a lot of money to the couple. Although most people believe that an individual’s retirement accounts or insurance policy is just for them, it in fact is normally marital property.
Marital agreements don’t always have to be a sour note in a relationship. They can often protect and embolden the couple making them. The marital agreement can allow a couple to fully understand what their rights will be in what could be considered the worst-case scenario.
