A previous post on this blog talked about how a man can protect his business interests via a prenuptial agreement. As this post described, as long as a man follows state law, a valid premarital agreement can go a long way to protect his assets in the event of a high-asset divorce or a separation.
For that matter, many happily married couples find premarital agreements valuable, especially if they have children from a prior relationship. Nebraska’s law does have several requirements an Omaha resident will have to make sure get satisfied if he wants his premarital agreement to be enforceable in court.
In addition to making sure that agreement is in writing, properly signed and otherwise in the correct form, the man will also have to be sure that there is no appearance his soon-to-be spouse got forced or pressured in to signing. The agreement itself, as well as the circumstances under which it got signed, will determine whether both parties entered it freely and voluntarily.
Moreover, the agreement also must be reasonably fair, that is, not unconscionable, at the time the couple enters in to it. While ultimately whether an agreement is unconscionable is a question for a judge to decide, the basic idea is that both parties need to know what the other party owns and owes. If an important piece of information gets omitted, the omission could torpedo the premarital agreement.
All of this being said, a man can protect his interests in his business and other assets through a premarital agreement. Whether a premarital agreement is right in a particular set of circumstances is a question that should be discussed with a man’s family law attorney.