Category: Prenup

Nobody likes talking about prenuptial agreements (prenups). It’s just about the least romantic conversation you can have with the person you are planning to spend the rest of your life with. And yet, prenups are an incredibly versatile tool for helping someone protect his or her finances if the marriage does not work out or as part of an estate plan.

Some fiancés may be intimidated if presented with a prenup draft and not know what to do. A person may feel like they must sign the document as presented. However, this is not the case. Both parties should each have a lawyer, and a first draft can be just the starting point of a negotiation where both parties are satisfied with the end result.

Colorado Prenup Process

For a prenup to be valid, though, there is a specific process that must be followed. Colorado governs prenups under the terms of the Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act, which sets forth the guidelines that determine the validity of a prenup. Knowing these guidelines ”“ and whether your prenup is valid or not ”“ can save you and your pocketbook a lot of stress if and when divorce arises. Here are the key points of the act summed up:

• The prenuptial agreement is not enforceable if either party signs it under duress. Prenups must be voluntarily entered into by both parties. If duress can be proven, the prenup can be voided.
• Before signing the prenup, both parties are required to fully disclose all property and assets. If either spouse has hidden property or simply fails to disclose everything, then it is possible for the prenup to be thrown out.
• Prenups are official, legally binding agreements and must be in writing. Oral agreements cannot be enforced.
• Prenups can be challenged if one spouse did not have access to legal representation prior to signing the agreement. This discourages one spouse from, for example, springing the prenup on his or her spouse the day before the wedding. Always present and negotiate a prenup long before the actual wedding date.
• The prenup can be challenged partially or entirely if it contains unlawful clauses. This may include, but is not limited to, clauses regarding child support or child custody.

Contact a Denver Prenuptial Agreement Attorney

The Denver divorce attorneys at Divorce Matters can help you craft the right prenuptial agreement to ensure that your separate property is protected.

According to a survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, more and more couples are ensuring their financial futures post-divorce by signing prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. More than half of the attorneys surveyed noted an increase in postnuptial agreements from 2009-2012, and 63 percent reported an increase in prenuptial agreements from 2009-2012.
Have you considered one of the two for your marriage? If not, here is a simple breakdown of what these agreements are and which one is right for you.

What is a Prenup?

Prenups are essentially private contracts signed before marriage and determine how a couple will divide property upon the dissolution of the marriage. Many people don’t like to think about prenups ”“ it is definitely not a romantic conversation to have ”“ but prenups serve an important role and can help make divorce a much cleaner, less contentious process. Additionally, prenups can be used to make financial decisions in the event of one spouse’s death; this is important if you have a significant estate and wish to ensure that your assets are distributed to the parties you want them to go to.

For younger couples, prenups can also be beneficial. One way to look at the idea of a prenup is it is a contract the couple draws up themselves, instead of using Colorado’s divorce laws as a default. Couples getting married are typically generous with each other when drafting a prenup, which avoids arguments and drawn out disputes in the event of a divorce.

What is a Postnup?

Postnuptial agreements are essentially private contracts made after the wedding. The difference is postnuptial agreements can be used as a type of legal separation: couples can stop the marital property from accumulating, or agree that one pays spousal support if the couple wishes to physically separate, but not divorce. Sometimes, if one spouse is entering into a business or equity partnership, the postnup may be required to ensure the business will not be affected in the event of divorce. For these purposes, post-nuptials are very effective, but should only be entered into if each spouse has their own individual lawyer to make sure they are upheld in court.

The divorce attorneys at Divorce Matters provide professional advice to divorcing couples throughout the state of Colorado.

When you hear the word “prenup,” you might think of celebrities or high-paid business executives fighting over who gets to keep the elephant ice sculpture in the summer home’s foyer. But prenuptial agreements are not just for the moneyed elite to cover their finances in case of divorce. Prenups are incredibly versatile agreements that can be useful for many married couples.

What Can a Prenup Cover? What Can’t a Prenup Cover?

Prenups can help to ensure your property rights, including financial responsibilities for the marital home should the marriage end. They can also simplify the process of determining who has the rights to property owned prior to and obtained during the marriage. Debts, insurance policies, wills, employment benefit plans, etc. can also be allocated between the two spouses. You can also determine spousal support (known as maintenance in Colorado) through a prenup.

Colorado courts do not consider prenup provisions concerning children, including child custody, visitation or child support. The reason for this is because in our state, the judge must consider the best interests of the children at the time of divorce, independent of prior agreements the parents may have made. After all, things change ”“ especially between a wedding and a divorce.

The process of negotiating a prenup with your spouse can be awkward; after all, nothing shatters a romantic moment like asking “So who gets the house when we break up?” Open communication, therefore, is incredibly important in setting up a prenup. If you have any questions about whether a prenup is right for you, visit our prenup Q&A or speak with a family law attorney.

Divorce Matters ”“ Denver Family Law Attorneys

Source: https://www.bustle.com/articles/78335-should-i-get-a-prenup-why-you-should-have-the-awkward-conversation-with-your-partner-before

Every parent, at one point or another, wishes child rearing came with a personalized user manual– complete with tips for optimal performance and troubleshooting solutions. It’s no wonder, then, that some expecting couples are actually beginning to draft parenting contracts, akin to prenuptial agreements, to help them survive the overwhelming venture of raising a family.

Rebecca Onion of Slate magazine recently referred to it as a “pre-pregnancy agreement,” in which she and her husband would settle on certain demands before she bore any children. She argued that in a ”˜spontaneous’ household, “work tends to revert to the less spontaneous person, who is often the person who’s culturally expected to carry it out.” The disparity in domestic responsibilities, she reasoned, would make her resentful and become a consistent source of tension in her marriage.

To “guarantee” family harmony, Onion contemplated an agreement based on very pragmatic requests: 6-7 hours to write every day; getting her husband to cook and grocery shop; and demarcated leisure time that wasn’t spent teaching her husband how to do all his assigned chores. She believed a contract (her husband was expected to sign on the dotted line) would, at the least, give her “a process for discussing issues.”

A framework for decision-making is exactly what Drina Nibbe, a Colorado-based psychotherapist specializing in infant and toddler mental health, envisioned when she developed the Baby Prenupâ„¢ program for expecting parents. Whereas Onion’s proposed agreement addresses only the marital relationship, Nibbe’s is equally concerned with parent-child attachments and nurturing healthy child development. Her parenting contract, therefore, is less a division of household duties and more a statement of shared values, parental functions, communication practices, and self-care needs that aims to foster secure family bonds.

Under Nibbe’s guidance, couples explore positives and negatives from their own childhood, recognize each other’s strengths and weaknesses as potential parents, define child-rearing goals, and agree upon effective methods of discourse. That awareness of their own capabilities, in turn, deters new parents from shutting down or anxiously obsessing over specifics; it also helps pinpoint stress triggers and minimize quarrels once the little one makes an appearance. All these conversations ultimately result in a “commitment document,” a road map of sorts for managing parenting expectations and decreasing familial conflict.

“We put more time into creating a vision and defining values for a company than we do for the most important job of all””raising a child,” Nibbe said. “We need a family mission as well.”

A parenting plan extensively detailing each person’s roles and responsibilities is commonplace amongst divorcing and adoptive couples, but Nibbe feels it’s something that could really benefit all parents. She knows of one never-married couple with a very strained relationship, for instance, who constantly refer to their commitment document to resolve disagreements over the upbringing of their child. The pact works because it steers them towards evaluating their overall parenting vision and away from attacking each other’s shortfalls. Amazingly, Nibbe said the very act of writing down a parenting creed is enough to legitimize the contract and to make it binding in a parent’s eye.

At the end of the day, the objective of a parenting agreement is to serve a child’s overall well-being””whether that means vowing never to repeat the refrains of your own childhood or allocating laundry duty for the next 18 years.

Nibbe’s Baby Prenupâ„¢ classes resume at the Castle Rock Family Enrichment Center this fall; she is also publishing a workbook on the subject, due out early next year. For more information, please visit www.drinanibbellc.com.

Colorado Enacts New Laws Regarding Premarital Agreements.   The new law that was signed by Governor John Hickenlooper enacts the “Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act” (Act).

The new law describes the formation of premarital (prenuptial) ”“ and marital agreements, when such agreements are effective, provisions that are unenforceable in premarital or marital agreements, and when an agreement is enforceable. The law makes changes to the Act with respect to the enforcement of spousal maintenance provisions in a premarital or marital agreement. Under the bill, provisions relating to spousal maintenance are unenforceable if the provisions are unconscionable at the time of enforcement.

The new law also amends a probate provision relating to the waiver of marital rights or obligations to conform to the Act.

The Act applies to premarital or marital agreements signed on or after July 1, 2014.

If you have questions regarding premarital or prenuptial agreement in Colorado, you can contact an attorney at Divorce Matters by calling 720-542-6142.