The option of drafting a prenuptial agreement is available to any couple interested having one before marriage. However, it is not routine for an average, middle-income couple to contemplate having a prenuptial prior to marriage. Most people hear about prenuptial agreements and their validity through celebrity news venues. Typically, most associate such agreements with divorcing couples who have a large amount of assets.
Our Michigan readers may find it interesting to learn that recently a woman made headlines when a court ruled that the prenuptial she signed only days before she married her millionaire husband was not valid. The prenuptial in essence stated that if the couple ever divorced, her husband’s nearly $20 million real estate assets would be in his name and she would receive about $25,000 for each year they were together as a married couple. However, the woman claimed that her husband promised to throw out this agreement once they had children. They have three children together. Her husband never kept his word. The judge ruled that the prenuptial was fraudulently induced and threw is out.
Prenuptial agreements are a great way to protect to a person’s assets and when entered into in a fair and equitable manner they are very difficult to be overturned in the court of law, which makes this recent case an outlier. Typically, before a prenuptial is signed by the parties, it undergoes several drafts, there is compromise on both sides and numerous negotiations take place to ensure that the document is fair and equitable.
Source: Business Insider, “How This Woman Managed To Get Her Million-Dollar Prenup Thrown Out,” Megan Durisin, April 4, 2013
