Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of rock legend Elvis Presley, is as happy as a ‘hound dog’. A judge in her divorce from Michael Lockwood recently ruled that her postnuptial agreement waiving alimony is valid.
Are You Lonesome Tonight?
Although she is single, the daughter of music legend Elvis Presley is not without her riches. The family court ruling means she won’t have to pay her estranged husband spousal support, according to court papers obtained by TheWrap.
In an order handed down Aug. 17, a judge found that a 2007 post-nuptial agreement signed by Presley and Lockwood in which they waived spousal support in the event of a split, is valid.
The Wonder of Postnuptial Agreements
I’ve written about various marital agreements before. Postnups are written agreements signed after a couple gets married, or have entered a civil union, to settle the couple’s affairs and assets in the event of a separation or divorce.
Postnuptial agreements are enforceable in divorce cases. But, there are two separate grounds by which either spouse may challenge such an agreement and have it vacated or even modified.
First, a spouse may set aside or modify an agreement by establishing that it was reached under fraud, deceit, duress, coercion, misrepresentation, or overreaching.
The second ground to vacate a settlement agreement contains multiple elements. Initially, the challenging spouse must establish that the agreement makes an unfair or unreasonable provision for that spouse, given the circumstances of the parties.
To establish that an agreement is unreasonable, the challenging spouse must present evidence of the parties’ relative situations, including their respective ages, health, education, and financial status.
With this basic information, a family court judge may determine that the agreement, on its face, does not adequately provide for the challenging spouse and, consequently, is unreasonable.
In making this determination, the trial judge has to find that the agreement is “disproportionate to the means” of the defending spouse. This usually requires some evidence to establish a defending spouse’s financial means. Additional evidence may also be necessary.
Keep in mind that this standard for avoiding or modifying the agreement happens when a couple is not in the midst of litigation against each other. This does not govern marital settlement agreements entered into during the course of divorce litigation.
Return to Sender
According to the papers, the agreement was arrived at the year after Presley and Lockwood married, and before the couple’s twins were born.
The order purportedly said that the post-nuptial agreement stated that:
“in the event of a judgment of nullity, legal separation or dissolution of marriage, neither party shall be obligated to pay spousal support to the other.”
The court added that Lockwood didn’t read this because it didn’t interest him, but he signed documents containing that language, twice, initialing every page on the July 2007 copy, and his attorney “signed the November 2007 version.”
Viva las agreements. The Wrap article is here.