If you and your spouse already signed a prenuptial agreement, you likely feel like you have a certain level of protection if you decide to get divorced. If you’re considering a prenup before you get married, that is likely the type of protection that you’re seeking. You want to make these financial decisions while the two of you are on good terms rather than during a potential divorce.
Unfortunately, people will sometimes create prenuptial agreements that are invalid and will not stand in court. You need to know what to avoid, so here are a few examples of how it can happen.
It goes beyond financial issues
First off, remember that prenups always need to relate to financial details. You can’t say anything about who gets custody of your children, for example. Putting something like that in a prenuptial agreement would be in violation of the child’s rights.
One of you was pressured
A prenup can also be invalid if you or your spouse felt pressured to sign it. If you actually didn’t want to sign, but you felt threatened or coerced into doing so, then it may be an invalid agreement.
You didn’t have enough time
One form of pressure could simply be time constraints. If you were given a prenuptial agreement to sign the day before the wedding, the pressure comes from the potential embarrassment of calling off that wedding and the financial loss of canceling the services. This could cause you to sign a prenup so that you can still get married, even though you didn’t actually want to sign it. Free will is very important here, and the court wants to know that you signed the agreement willfully.
A complex legal process
You can see that prenuptial agreements may be complex, so take the time to look into your legal options and make sure you understand exactly what steps to take.