Postnuptial Agreements

 Posted on August 05, 2013 in Family Law

Prenuptial agreements have become much more common in the last 10 to 15 years as people begin to protect their money and assets from divorce. Along with divorce guidelines, though, pre-nups also can state rules about the marriage like weight gain limits and intimacy frequency.

These agreements are created and made official before the marriage, but another document that is becoming more common is postnuptial agreements. The two documents are similar, but are created at different times.

More and more people are creating postnuptial agreements now, after having issues of where to go on the holidays, which family to see or even how to spend the family money.

It is completely normal for couples to fight and when big decisions like these arise, the fighting gets worse. Some people are just sick of the fights though, so they turn to post-nups. These agreements are considered to be a productive way to deal with issues that come up in marriages, according to some of America’s top divorce experts.

The American Academy of Matrimonal Lawyers (AAML) president said that he has recently started seeing more and more clients asking more post-nups for all sorts of reasons.

“From a couple where the husband had a drinking problem, and after the third DUI, his wife demanded [a post-nup], to a case where a father told his daughter [that] she would be cut out of his will if her husband didn’t sign a postnup,” said AAML president.

In some post-nups, couples state items as specific as who will rake the backyard, to where, when and how frequently they will take vacations, according to a Washington D.C. attorney.

Along with solving marital fights, postnuptial agreements also create chances to reset the financial terms in the marriage if a spouse should receive an inheritance or get a large increase to their salary that they do not want to share.

If you are married and are you are regretting not getting a pre-nup, you still have a chance to set rules and boundaries for the marriage in legal terms. Contact a family law attorney for assistance with your post-nup. Martoccio & Martoccio attorneys will help you in Cook, Kane, Will and DuPage Counties today.