Pre and Post-Nuptial Agreements Attorney in Rockville, Maryland

When do you recommend pre and post nuptial agreements?

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Pre and post nuptial agreements, the difference only being timing. You know pre is before the marriage and post is after. I generally recommend it in a situation where there may be a large disparity in financial resources between the spouses, or in a situation where perhaps you have a second or third marriage, and you have children from prior relationships. It makes sense to have these kinds of arrangements, these kinds of agreements. And keeping in mind the agreements are twofold. They serve not just the purpose of what happens in the event of divorce, but it also serves what happens in the event of death.

So these agreements are a divorce planning tool and an estate planning tool. Not everybody knows that or is really cognizant of that. They think of prenuptial as something negative, but it’s really not. It’s having that difficult and necessary conversation about the future before the conflict happens, before the event happens. You know, you’re far better off trying to work out circumstances and terms for divorce when you’re getting along, when the two spouses get along well together, as opposed to waiting until you’re in the heat of a divorce.

And so I recommend it for anyone, even post marriage, to consider this kind of vehicle. So that when the time comes, they’re prepared. And I find that the post-nuptial agreements, in particular, are very helpful to clients who may be considering divorce. This is actually a vehicle where they go through this exercise of, well, all right, if we actually go through with it, what will it look like? Sometimes that saves the marriage. But if it doesn’t, then it’s already worked out and it’s a uncontested divorce.

Rockville, MD family law attorney Stuart Knotts Skok talks about the situations in which she recommends a pre or post nuptial agreement.

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