Postnuptial Agreement Facts: Why You May Want One

Postnuptial agreements are legal arrangements designed to protect your assets following marriage. Like a prenuptial agreement, the arrangement dictates how your assets will be divided upon divorce.

While prenuptial agreements are entered into before you get married, postnuptial agreements are made after you’ve married. At that time, you may want to sit down with your spouse to talk about the possibility of a divorce in the future and how you’d like to divide your assets if that time comes.

There is a little difference between prenuptial and postnuptial agreements in that you may be able to have your attorney take care of the postnuptial agreement for both parties. It’s still smart to have two different attorneys, one for you and one for your spouse, though, since you’ll get separate counsel and someone who is supporting you as an individual, not just as a couple entering an agreement.

Why do people choose postnuptial agreements?

They may choose them if they:

• Have children from a previous marriage that they want to receive certain assets
• Stop working to care for small children and want to make sure they can access financial support in the case of a divorce
• Want to define how assets brought to the marriage should be treated
• Want to protect themselves against their spouse’s debts

If you didn’t feel like a prenuptial agreement was appropriate for your situation, you may like a postnuptial agreement more. Your attorney can talk to you about how a postnuptial agreement could help you protect your assets and your financial security in the case of a divorce.