Practical Considerations in Increasing Changes of Enforcement of Antenuptial Agreements

A. Steps to Take

Stomp, stomp, stomp, goes the foot of the instructor.

The person who wants the agreement enforced should take special care to make sure that none of the factors listed in the foregoing cases could be brought up as defenses in his/her particular situation. While one or two of the factors may be present and a court might still enforce the agreement, the fewer the better. None at all is the best situation. There are a number of things that you can do to make sure that down the road, the court will enforce the antenuptial agreement you and your spouse signed.

1) Make sure you present the agreement to your fiancee as far ahead of the wedding as possible. The best possible scenario here is to get the thing signed before any person has committed to any financial outlays for reservations, plane tickets, etc.

2) Make sure that your fiancee is not pregnant at the time of the signing of the antenuptial agreement.

3) Don’t make any threats about not going through with the marriage if the agreement isn’t signed.

4) Make sure your fiancee has had a chance not just to read the agreement, but to read it with her lawyer. If he/she cannot afford a lawyer, give him/her sufficient funds to hire one. Recite in the agreement that this was done.

5) Make it clear that the terms of the agreement are negotiable, and that what you are handing him/her is only a draft copy.

6) Make sure that you accurately and fully disclose every asset and liability you have, including a value on each.

7) The agreement should have all of its pages numbered in the following fashion: “Page 1 of 10,” “Page 2 of 10″ etc.

Make sure that each and every page of the document is initialed.

9) If there are any clauses which might provide for a harsh result, such as “No matter how long the marriage lasts, neither party shall expect spousal support from the other upon termination of the marriage”, that such clauses stand out from the rest of the text and are initialed by both parties.

10) There should be a clause in the agreement indicating the date that the parties agree that the initial draft was received.

11) If both parties were represented, then there should be a space for both parties’ lawyers to sign the agreement indicating that they have reviewed it with their clients.