To protect themselves financially during a divorce, couples may draft prenuptial agreements to outline how assets are to be distributed in the event of a divorce. If you are preparing yourself for a divorce, it may be time to review your prenuptial agreement in order to determine whether all of the terms and conditions are fair and reasonable with a local divorce attorney. Although you may have signed a prenuptial agreement, the agreement may not necessarily be valid, and you may contest it in court during your divorce. Here are three of the most common reasons that may prompt you to consider contesting your prenuptial agreement.
The Agreement Was Signed Under Fraudulent Circumstances
When submitting and signing a prenuptial agreement, both couples must provide a full disclosure of all of the assets that he or she possesses. If the divorce attorney has discovered that your spouse has been hiding assets from you during the duration of your marriage and before the prenuptial agreement was signed, the prenuptial agreement will be deemed invalid and can be thrown out in court.
The Agreement Was Signed Without Proper Legal Representation
During the honeymoon stage of your relationship, you may have signed the prenuptial agreement without fully understanding the terms and conditions surrounding it. This may be due to the fact that you signed without proper legal representation. Some states actually require that both parties have separate independent legal counsel before they sign the prenuptial agreement. In the event that one side did not have proper legal representation before signing, the prenuptial agreement is considered to be invalid and can be thrown out in court.
This is an argument that your divorce attorney will have to bring up when contesting the agreement. You may have to prove that you not only did not receive legal representation but that you also did not fully understand the terms and conditions of the ironclad agreement. Proving the latter can be easy, especially if there is an unreasonable provision that would have prevented you from signing were you aware of it.
The Terms and Conditions of the Agreement are Unreasonable
Even if the prenuptial agreement was signed with legal representation on both sides and is technically valid, you may still have a chance of throwing out the prenuptial agreement entirely in court if you are contesting the agreement based on the fact that some of the provisions are simply unreasonable. For example, you may contest a prenuptial agreement in court if one of the provisions states that you will not be receiving any child support. While this may have been agreed upon previously, a judge will likely amend this provision or throw the prenuptial agreement out entirely as it is found unconscionable, as each parent should provide support to any and all children.
Consult with a top divorce attorney in Phoenix AZ for more information.