Even if you and your spouse are committed to spending the rest of your lives together, unresolved financial disagreements can interfere with even the strongest personal relationships. One of the best ways to address these issues is through a legally enforceable marital agreement.
However, negotiating for what you want while maintaining marital bliss can be challenging. Assistance from an experienced family law attorney can be key to getting through this process without damaging your relationship. If you want to explore your options or start drafting a prenup or postnup, contact a Miramar Beach marital agreements lawyer at Emmanuel Sheppard & Condon.
Requirements for a Valid Marital Agreement
Like any contract, there are certain prerequisite conditions that a marital agreement must meet to be considered valid and enforceable under Florida state law. The basic rules are fairly straightforward: whether it is created before or after your wedding date, your agreement must be in writing—and generally typed out as opposed to handwritten—for a court to accept it, and both you and your spouse must sign the agreement for it to go into effect.
A more complicated requirement is that the marital agreement must be made voluntarily and truthfully. If there is any indication that one or both parties signed the agreement under duress, were not able to read and understand all the terms of the proposed contract, or were not fully informed of the other party’s financial circumstances during negotiations, a court will likely consider the agreement unenforceable. A skilled Miramar Beach marital agreements attorney can help you avoid this common occurrence.
What Can a Prenup or Postnup Cover?
Florida follows the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act regarding the rules it enforces for prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, which means the rules here are more or less consistent with the agreement rules in other states. Under this Act, marital contracts can establish specific instructions for how to handle any of the following matters:
- Division of marital property in the event of a divorce
- Inheritance of property in the event of one spouse’s death
- How retirement savings and other similar assets will be shared
- How new property brought into the marriage will be categorized for possible division during a divorce
- Whether one spouse will receive alimony following a divorce, and how much in alimony they would receive
Importantly, though, marital agreements cannot make any legally binding declarations about how child custody or child support would be handled during a divorce or separation. However, a proactive marital agreements lawyer in Miramar Beach can help incorporate personal preferences for how those issues should be handled into an agreement for a court to consider later on.
Get Help from a Miramar Beach Marital Agreements Attorney
A properly negotiated and structured marital agreement can often strengthen a marriage by solving potential conflicts before they arise. That said, getting the best results from this process is not something you should expect to accomplish without support from experienced legal counsel.
A Miramar Beach marital agreements lawyer can help you draft a prenup or postnup that addresses your specific needs. Call Emmanuel Sheppard & Condon today to learn more.
