Pre and Post-Nuptial Agreements Attorney in Los Angeles, California
What are the requirements for a valid prenuptial agreement in California?
What are the requirements for a valid prenuptial agreement in California?
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as far as requirements go there’s a
family code section on point but in
general terms if the parties are
eventually going to get divorced what a
judge is going to look for as as far as
finding a valid prenup is if the parties
were on relatively equal footing and
negotiating that prenuptial agreement
because taking it back what a prenuptial
agreement is is basically an agreement
by two people who are going to be
married to deviate from the property
laws and the spousal support laws if
they want to of the state of california
and how they treat property and support
upon divorce it’s basically just
re-raiding the laws based on their own
contract there are certain limitations
that
you can’t contract to such as changing
child support laws or dictating custody
if you have future children or if
they’re existing children so it’s
limited to property and support so
bringing it back to that there are
disclosures that they would have to
exchange prior to entering into that
prenup and in sufficient time before
negotiating and entering it so they have
a knowledge of what exists what each
party’s income is what each party’s
assets are
their tax returns for the last few years
things of that nature so a judge when it
looks retroactively back at it they know
that each party had a sufficient
understanding to enter into this
contract now as far as the contract
terms with enforceability i touched on
this a little earlier but basically just
ensuring that none of the provisions
would violate public policy and you know
california is a no fault state so for
example you know if a person wanted to
write in if there’s any infidelity of
the marriage i will get x amount in
child support or spousal support upon
our divorce the court isn’t going to
enforce any provision of that because
you cannot contract two against
child support in an agreement it’s a
no-fault state so the court doesn’t care
if there’s any fidelity involved
including if you contract to that in a
prenup it’s just going to be thrown out
with respect to spousal support
specifically the court looks at that a
little bit more sternly in a prenuptial
agreement versus property so that gets
what’s called a second look provision
where the court’s not only going to look
at the circumstances at the time
the individuals contracted the prenup
but also what are the circumstances at
the time of divorce so even if you did
everything right buttoned it up gave all
the disclosures contracted to fair terms
at the time if circumstances drastically
change during the marriage the court may
still not enforce specifically the
spousal support provisions they may
still enforce the property provisions if
whatever change changed so drastically
to make the agreement unfair when looked
at the prism of what’s going on at the
time of divorce
Los Angeles, CA family law attorney Eric Meyer discusses the requirements for a valid prenuptial agreement in California. He mentions that, in general terms, a valid prenuptial agreement is assessed based on whether the parties were negotiating on relatively equal footing. Under California law, a prenup allows two people who plan to marry to contractually deviate from the state’s default property and spousal support laws in the event of divorce. However, there are limitations: prenups cannot dictate child support or custody arrangements for future or existing children; they are strictly limited to property and spousal support matters.
Before entering into a prenup, both parties must exchange full and fair financial disclosures, including assets, income, and tax returns from previous years. This ensures that, if the agreement is later reviewed by a judge, it is clear that both parties had sufficient knowledge to make an informed decision.
Regarding enforceability, all terms must comply with public policy. For example, California is a no-fault state, so any provisions attempting to condition spousal support or child support on marital infidelity would not be enforceable. The court treats spousal support provisions more strictly than property provisions. Even if a prenup was properly executed with full disclosures and fair terms, the court may apply a “second look” at the time of divorce. If circumstances have changed drastically and enforcing the spousal support provisions would be unfair, the court may choose not to enforce them, although property provisions are generally upheld unless they have also become inequitable.
