By The Law Offices of Ronald H. Kauffman of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Agreements on Monday, July 4, 2016.

As a certain presidential candidate might say, “prenuptial agreements are yuuuuuuuuge”. If you’re marrying this summer, you should build a fantastic wall around your assets.

Many people don’t realize that prenuptial agreements serve many purposes; some of them are surprising. The New York Magazine reports on “lifestyle” clauses in prenups. Lifestyle provisions are clauses which can include things like:

– a “no-diaper” rule,

– a clause that specifies no children, or

– “fling fees” for infidelity.

But clauses can also get excruciatingly specific: whether the children will be raised vegetarian; how often a couple should have sex; how much time a couple will spend at their in-laws’ house; which nights a husband can watch football with his friends; how many hours a spouse will work during the week; how long a husband is expected to work before he retires; and, of course, how much weight a wife can gain.

You should know that these kinds of clauses are nearly impossible to enforce in court. They are added to prenuptial agreements to add an aspirational sense to the agreement; a sort of a declaration of what you expect in the marriage.

I’ve written about the need for prenups before. There are many other kinds of clauses in prenups that can be enforced. Prenuptial agreements are often used to limit or eliminate alimony and spousal maintenance awards, to protect assets that are titled in one spouse’s name, or protect you before premarital money becomes mixed.

Donald Trump, reportedly says that his prenuptial agreement with Melania Knauss has made his marriage stronger.

“It’s a hard, painful, ugly tool. Believe me, there’s nothing fun about it. But there comes a time when you have to say, Darling, I think you’re magnificent, and I care for you deeply, but if things don’t work out, this is what you’re going to get.”

The New York magazine article is here.

By The Law Offices of Ronald H. Kauffman of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Agreements on Monday, May 23, 2016.

Speeding into the 21st Century, Saudi Arabian brides will now get a copy of their prenuptial agreements, in the latest women’s rights breakthrough in the kingdom.

Another post from the Middle East. Women can now receive their marriage contracts. Saudi Arabian media is hailing this a “great step forward for women”! The disturbing reality is that Saudi women had no idea about their marriage rights before being wed.

This presented a problem, as women who married secretly have had to face frustrating legal wrangles with their husbands denying their formal relationships.

In some cases, wives have had trouble with the families of their husbands determined to deprive them of their inheritance and other rights following their husband’s death. The women had no formal evidence they got married since they did not have copies of their marriage.

Justice Minister Waleed Al Samaani said that the decision allows women to be fully aware of their rights and of the marriage contract conditions.

Under the minister’s decision, two copies of the contracts are given to the groom and the bride and each must sign to acknowledge they received it.

I’ve written about prenuptial agreements many times. Prenups can address many issues, including: Caring for a parent; Going back to school; Shopping habits; Credit card debt; Tax liabilities; Alimony and child support from previous relationships; and Death or disability.

In Saudi Arabia, the copy of the contract will also allow women to check all the details of the marriage contract, including the prenuptial agreement and the amount of money to be paid in case of divorce or the possibility for the wife to take up a job.

Last week, an Arab woman who got married with a rich Saudi businessman won a legal case against his family following his death after her lawyer successfully proved their formal marriage.

The wife had no copy of the contract and the husband’s family rejected her marriage claims. She eventually won the case when the lawyer was able to convince the two witnesses of the marriage to come forward and give their testimonies.

The 22-year-old woman, from an Arab country, was given SR67 million (about $17.9m) as her share of the inheritance. She and her husband were married for only one month when he had a heart attack and died.

The Gulf News article can be found here.

By The Law Offices of Ronald H. Kauffman of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Agreements on Wednesday, May 11, 2016.

Here are some statistics: the average wedding costs $20,000; June has the most weddings; $8 billion is spent on honeymoons. Marriage is expensive, which is why you may need a prenuptial agreement.

Many think prenuptial agreements are for the wealthy. But, you don’t always enter a marriage with riches, or guarantees that the bliss will last. It might not be a bad idea to have a plan in place.

Prenuptial agreements, or “prenups,” are contracts entered into before marriage that outline the division of assets in case of divorce or death.

They resolve things like alimony, ownership of businesses, title of properties, and even each spouse’s financial responsibilities during the marriage.

There are many other concerns that can be addressed in the contract:

– Caring for a parent

– Going back to school;

– Shopping habits

– Credit card debt;

– Tax liabilities;

– Alimony and child support from previous relationships; and

– Death or disability.

I’ve written about the need for prenups before. There are times when a prenup is a “must-have”:

1. When one person enters the marriage with significantly more money or assets than the other

2. When one or both future spouses have family money or inheritances,

3. When you want to keep parts of your finances separate: such as separate bank accounts, and a joint account for paying household bills.

One of the points of a prenup, is that if money in the bank becomes mixed, accounting for any increase or loss becomes very difficult to trace and unwind if you end up in divorce court.

Avoiding Future Arguments

Arguments about money are a known predictor of divorce. In order to avoid that, it is better to discuss with each other the terms of a prenuptial agreement when times are good. Difficult talks about money can uncover things that could be disastrous if put off until several years into the marriage.

The wedding and honeymoon will be expensive, and the courtship phase can conceal potential problems. Discussing financial issues can bring couples closer together when it matters most, and reduce the chance of a bitter financial argument later.

The wedding statistics article is here.

By The Law Offices of Ronald H. Kauffman of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Agreements on Thursday, April 21, 2016.

Not only are prenuptial agreements on the rise among all engaged couples, they are also becoming very popular for religious couples. What is the intersection of prenups and religion?

Prenuptial agreements, or “prenups,” are contracts entered into before marriage that outline the division of assets in case of divorce. They may touch on things like spousal support (alimony), title or ownership of businesses and properties, and even financial duties and responsibilities during the marriage.

While most people think prenuptial agreements deal with assets and alimony, there are a lot of other concerns that can be handled:

– Will you have to care for an older parent

– Who pays or supports the house when going back to school

– Agreeing to spending habits

– Who pays for what credit card debt

– Who handles the costs of a business

– Who pays the taxes

– What happens if someone dies or becomes disabled

Now there is something new to consider: your religion. I’ve written before about religious marriage contracts, especially Muslim Mehr agreements.

Currently in Florida, the issue of whether a Muslim prenuptial agreement is enforceable depends on whether it complies with Florida’s secular contract law. If so, secular terms may be enforceable as any contractual obligation.

What about Jewish Prenups? The halachic prenup, as it is called, is a document binding under Jewish law that helps to ensure that a woman, would be able to obtain a religious divorce from her husband.

The reason, as many young couples are discovering:

“Part of going into a relationship with someone is making sure that you trust each other,” said Mr. Morrison. “We care enough about each other now to be protected in the unlikely event something were to change.”

The halachic prenup – which dates back decades and has been championed by the Beth Din of America, the U.S.’s biggest rabbinical court – has gone mainstream in some circles as a mechanism to avoid the messy, sometimes abusive situations that advocates say can arise as divorce becomes more common in the Orthodox Jewish community.

The Catholic Church does not have a blanket prohibition of prenups. In certain cases, they can be quite valid and helpful. When a widow marries a widower, for example, and they both have children from their previous marriages, a prenup is a legitimate way of determining what is marital property and what is non-marital as a basis for determining the inheritance rights of each spouse’s children.

By The Law Offices of Ronald H. Kauffman of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Agreements on Wednesday, February 17, 2016.

Signing a prenuptial agreement the day of your wedding is frightening. Is it enforceable? More frightening, do you need the new Zombie Apocalypse Clause?

Amazon Web Services just launched a new feature for its cloud based hosting service called “Lumberyard.” Lumberyard’s Service Terms agreement has an interesting clause:

The Lumberyard Materials are not intended for use with life-critical or safety-critical systems . . .

However, this restriction will not apply in the event of the occurrence (certified by the United States Centers for Disease Control or successor body) of a widespread viral infection transmitted via bites or contact with bodily fluids that causes human corpses to reanimate and seek to consume living human flesh, blood, brain or nerve tissue and is likely to result in the fall of organized civilization.

What about prenups? Are there loopholes? Florida has a policy of enforcing prenuptial agreements. While they can be difficult to void, it is not impossible . . . even if human corpses reanimate to consume the living.

I have written about agreements many times before. Florida has both case law and a statute to help lawyers, judges and the parties determine if a prenuptial agreement is enforceable.

Florida courts consider things such as fraud, duress, coercion, and whether there was financial disclosure. Under Florida’s Uniform Premarital Agreement Act, courts consider:

1. Fraud.

A prenuptial agreement requires each spouse to make full disclosure of assets and liabilities. In divorce, it is quite common to undervalue assets or fail to disclose them at all. If you can prove income or assets were not fully disclosed, you may have grounds to have the agreement voided.

2. Duress, Coercion or Overreaching.

If your prenuptial agreement was the product of fraud, duress, coercion, or overreaching, you may be able to block its enforcement. However, it can be extremely difficult to prove duress, coercion and overreaching.

3. Unconscionable.

You may be able to prevent enforcement if the agreement was unconscionable when it was executed and, before execution of the agreement, you were not provided a fair and reasonable disclosure of the assets and debts of the other party; you did not voluntarily and expressly waive, in writing, any right to this disclosure; and you did not have, or reasonably could not have had, an adequate knowledge of the other party’s assets and debts.

Keep the UPAA in mind if you are trying to get out of your prenup. And if the Centers for Disease Control is warning about “human corpses” seeking “to consume living human flesh”, keep that in mind too.

Amazon’s AWS web service agreement can be read here.

By The Law Offices of Ronald H. Kauffman of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Agreements on Friday, October 30, 2015.

A recent survey of divorce lawyers shows that more than 60% cite an increase in prenuptial agreements. What’s behind the uptick?

I’ve posted about the importance of prenuptial agreements before. Yet only 5 to 10% of marrying Americans get prenuptial agreements. Recently, the Wall Street Journal ran an article worth talking about.

People forget that prenups are not just about how assets are divided in a divorce. Prenuptial agreements also can determine who gets what when one spouse dies.

Although 50% of marriages end in divorce, but of those that don’t, 100% end in death. In either case, assets have to be distributed. Prenuptial agreements can prevent heartache and wasting money to distribute those assets.

Two big reasons prevent people from asking for prenuptial agreements:

(1) Many couples feel a prenup predicts doom. It almost feels like you’re planning to fail. Most people are optimistic about their marriages, and think that requesting a prenuptial agreement would signal uncertainty.

(2) Many couples also believe that, in spite of the statistics showing that more than half of all marriages end in divorce, it won’t happen to them. Statistically, most think their own chance of divorcing is about 12%.

However, prenups provide certainty and protections beyond the law:

A prenup protects your premarital assets from a claim by your spouse in the event of death or divorce. In Florida, assets that you owned before marriage aren’t subject to a claim in a divorce – but increases in value could be.

In the event of your death, even if you don’t make a provision in your will for your spouse, Florida law may give your spouse certain rights to a share of your estate.

If your premarital assets are significant, you can ensure that your spouse will share in it only as much as you wish should you divorce or die. This protects you and the inheritance of your children from a prior relationship.

Prenups protect your income earned during the marriage. For instance, without a prenuptial agreement, you could have to pay alimony to your ex-spouse. An agreement can set that amount – or eliminate it.

Currently there are two Florida bills aimed to eliminate permanent alimony, and reduce long-term alimony. This hurts traditional couples in which one spouse left the workforce. Agreeing in advance about how to divide assets earned or future earnings can protect the stay-at-home spouse.

More couples are entering prenuptial agreements because they think they will actually strengthen their marriages. Providing couples with protection from the unknown outweighs the pain of talking about these issues before the wedding.

The Wall Street Journal article is here.

By The Law Offices of Ronald H. Kauffman of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Agreements on Friday, September 11, 2015.

The Florida Supreme Court just decided a case which settles a conflict among Florida courts over interpreting prenuptial agreements. It also settles just how detailed your agreement has to be.

I’ve written about the issue of protecting your non-marital assets through a prenuptial agreement before. Few people know that there’s been a big conflict in Florida over how detailed a waiver of rights in a prenup has to be.

For example, if your prenup says that no one will ever claim any interest in the other spouse’s property, is your future spouse entitled to any share of your assets, or the appreciated value in your assets if they were acquired during, or increased in value, during the marriage? You’d think not.

A Prenup in Miami is Different than a Prenup in Ft. Lauderdale?

Believe it or not, that was a huge controversy in Florida. Courts in Miami said yes, your future spouse could claim a share of your non-marital assets even with a general waiver.

But other courts, such as ones in Ft. Lauderdale for instance, came to the opposite conclusion: No, your spouse couldn’t claim an interest in your share of assets if there was a general release to non-marital properties.

Before thinking about the prenup issue, consider the bigger problem of different Florida courts interpreting contracts differently.

Your prenup – which specifically says that neither spouse will ever claim any interest in the other’s property – may not be enforced depending on where you live.

A not-well known job of supreme courts is to settle conflicts between lower appellate courts in a state or the country. For example, in the recent gay marriage case, the U.S. Supreme Court settled the gay marriage conflict between different federal appellate courts.

Prenuptial Agreements Now Treated (more) Uniformly in Florida

Similarly, the Florida Supreme Court settled the conflict between Florida counties about prenuptial agreements.

Yesterday, the high court held that if a prenup includes a broad wavier provision – “but does not specifically waive a spouse’s claim to the other spouse’s earnings, assets acquired with those earnings, and the enhanced value of the other spouse’s property resulting from marital labor or funds” – the general waiver may be sufficient to waive a spouse’s right to seek equitable distribution of such assets.

The Florida Supreme Court opinion is available here.

By The Law Offices of Ronald H. Kauffman of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Agreements on Wednesday, April 1, 2015.

Before every wedding, you are surrounded by parents, friends, florists and caterers. You’re caught up in the excitement. This leads many to mistake the wedding as the end of the process when it’s really the start. A prenup can help.

As the New York Times recently reported:

“Marriage can be a minefield that blows up without the proper navigation these days,” said Debbie Martinez, a Miami relationship coach. That is why some couples are taking pre-marital counseling sessions to refocus their attention on each other and the lives they will lead together.

Unlike the marriage counseling people do years after a wedding, premarital counseling addresses unrealistic expectations of “happy, roses and rainbows,” said Jocelyn W. Charnas, a clinical psychologist in Manhattan who counsels engaged couples.

“The fundamental point about premarital counseling is to lay a foundation for empathy, communication and partnership,” Dr. Charnas said. This is especially true, he said: “for those couples in their 20s and 30s with good jobs and money saved. They view marriage as the capstone moment. They have arrived.”

Premarital counseling can serve a similar purpose as prenuptial agreements. I’ve written about pre-wedding preparation before, especially the importance of prenuptial agreements.

A prenup can help with the following:

Keeps Your Non-Marital Property Non-Marital. The property you brought into the marriage is yours. But over time it is common for people to start mixing things up. If you put it in writing, you can avoid this problem down the road.

You Can Change the Law. Right now in Florida, there is an ongoing legislation about alimony. Through an agreement you can modify Florida’s legal standards for awarding alimony.

Avoid Expensive Endings. A prenuptial agreement can simplify things by resolving issues ahead of time, way before death or divorce occurs. Once you have entered an agreement, everything should become cheaper.

Protect Your Children’s Inheritance. An agreement helps assure your children that any inheritance is protected, and they don’t need to resent the new spouse.

Citing the findings of a National Marriage Project, Mr. Wilcox said, “Couples who do premarital counseling fare better.” When two people love each other, it is hard to talk about kids, finances and other difficult subjects.

Some have other names for what can occur after the wedding cake is cut and the presents opened: the “post-wedding blues” or “crash.” It is a common phenomenon that typically occurs as life returns to normal in the days and weeks that follow the wedding and the couple ceases to be the center of everyone’s attention.

Voicing these concerns and strategizing about how to manage them can be tremendously helpful.”

The New York Times article can be read here.