Postnuptial agreements are not as cool and sexy as their sibling the prenuptial agreement. You don’t hear about them on TV or online often, but they are more common than you’d think. A postnuptial agreement, casually referred to as a postnup, describes a contractual document concerning marital finances completed after the marriage has been validated. The parties can be married for any amount of time, there isn’t a requirement. The details of what you’d find in a postnuptial agreement aren’t much different from those items highlighted in a prenup. The only difference between a prenup and a postnup is timing.
Signs You Need a Postnup
If you are unsure whether you need a postnup or not, we can help you think through some of the issues that could signal you’d be well served by completing a postnuptial agreement with your spouse. While every marriage is different, you can work with your attorney to determine if a postnuptial agreement would be the right choice for your situation.
- Trouble in the Marriage: If something has happened and you’re beginning to worry if your marriage is on sure footing, then you may want to start thinking about how to protect yourself in case of a divorce. If you’re working on improving your marriage, but you’re unsure if the effort will yield results, you and your spouse could work on a postnuptial agreement together, hammering out what would happen if your efforts to save the union fail. If there are problems in the marriage, a postnup could ensure everyone is on the same page should the marriage end.
- You Have Loads of Money and No Prenup: Sometimes love is blind and impulsive. Many people get married without prenups. So, what happens when you get married without a prenup, and you have assets that need protection? Is it too late? While prenuptial agreements have the benefit of being executed before the marriage, a postnuptial agreement can still hammer out the details of your financial wishes to protect your assets.
- There’s Been a Windfall: If you’ve experienced a financial windfall, you may want to protect it from the uncertainty of the future. Having a prenup can’t predict the future, so if you’ve received a financial windfall that you don’t think qualifies as a joint asset, then a postnup may be the right course of action. Assets gained after marriage that are individual property, like an inheritance, are the type of marital assets that a postnuptial agreement could clarify.