in new york

prenuptial agreements

are

going to be

enforced no matter what

there are some outlier cases there are

some exceptions to what i’ve just said

but if you

recall your history

new york was a commercial state

originally

we were involved in

um

selling property

we were involved in

all those things that were of a

commercial bent and consequently

prenuptial agreements which are just

contracts

that change the law

are

going to be

enforceable so long as you follow the

rules in new york and there are only

three or four rules number one they have

to be in writing

number two they have to be

signed off on in a particular way

i created that

law years and years ago when i am one of

the few divorce lawyers in the state to

have ever argued

in our court of appeals which is for

most um uh states the supreme court of

the state

creating the acknowledgement provision

or the brightline rule which says that

when people sign the notary has to

acknowledge their signatures in a

particular way and the third thing is

that

generally speaking you have to disclose

what you have

years ago

i represented

a woman who was marrying an extremely

famous musician the name i can’t say but

the richest and most famous

um uh musician on long island

and the reason i

got retained

was that i said to my potential client

who became the client

you know

you have

this

much

negotiating power

she said what do you mean i said do you

see any air between my fingers

you’ve got this much and she said well

then

i’ll sign whatever is is put before me

and i’ll deny

having read it or i’ll deny having

signed it or

i’ll deny the enforcement i said no you

don’t understand

when you sign a prenuptial agreement

despite the fact

that it’s a contract and despite the

fact that you’re supposed to have equal

bargaining position

you don’t in new york you never do in

any state or jurisdiction and

consequently

that’s why i put my hand up and my

fingers together like that

i said instead of

negotiating for your ultimate divorce

or death rights because marriages only

end in two ways

they end in divorce or death

that’s it

and consequently uh you have a waiver of

rights in both divorce and death

i said

to this woman i said why don’t you

negotiate for your marriage

despite the fact that she divorced seven

or ten years later because he got tired

of her or she got tired of him but it

doesn’t matter

during a marriage

if you’re lucky enough to

be in the position

you should

negotiate for the marriage not for the