Des Moines Prenuptial & Postnuptial Agreement Attorneys

Aggressively Protecting Your Rightful Property

Over the last 20 years, prenuptial agreements have become ever more popular, especially for high net worth couples. In fact, more and more married couples are signing postnuptial agreements for the additional security they bring. Whether you are thinking about forming an agreement prior to your wedding or after, you must make sure you the document is a valid contract that truly reflects your intentions.

Hope Law Firm helps couples at all stages of their relationship negotiate and execute valid marital agreements. Our prenuptial agreement lawyers in Des Moines also represent spouses in disputes over these contracts.

Reach out to us today to schedule a free consultation. Call (515) 298-5056.

Prenuptials vs. Postnuptials in Iowa

Couples enter prenuptial agreements before they get married. At that time, their greatest concern is to declare their separate property so that they can retain it in the event of a divorce. Couples entering a second marriage may be concerned about ensuring an inheritance for their children from a first marriage. After a couple has been married for a time, other concerns may arise. Perhaps they had expected to have parallel career tracks, but one has flourished, the other has languished, and there is now a greater disparity of income than they had anticipated. If the primary earner starts thinking about how much could be lost in a divorce 10 years in the future, that could create pressure to divorce sooner rather than later. A postnuptial agreement could relieve that pressure and actually strengthen the marriage.

Spouses can contract about any issue of their marriage except child support, which is a right belonging to the child. However, to ensure their agreement is valid, each spouse should have independent legal counsel and they should negotiate the agreement well in advance of signing it.

Marital Agreement Litigation During Divorce in Iowa

Marital agreements often facilitate uncontested divorces, but conflicts can arise during divorce when the effect of the marital agreement on property division becomes real. A disappointed spouse who feels wrongly deprived by the agreement must convince the court that the contract is, at least in part, invalid.

The court may find a marital agreement invalid if at the time the document was created and signed there was:

• Fraud — If one spouse led the other to believe that the document meant something other than what it says, it may be invalid. The court may accept an assertion of fraud in marriages where there is a disparity in financial sophistication or where there is a language barrier that put one spouse at a disadvantage.
• Misrepresentation — If a spouse withheld material information regarding finances so the other spouse did not realize what rights he or she was waiving by signing the document, the court could invalidate it.
• Coercion or duress — If one spouse physically forced the other to sign or manipulated circumstances to create emotional pressure compelling the other to sign, the agreement can be invalidated. If the document is signed very close to the wedding date, the court may infer that a threat to call off the wedding created duress.
• Imbalance of bargaining power — If an agreement is lopsided because one spouse held all the power at the time it was drafted, the court could declare the contract unconscionable and therefore void.
• A serious flaw in construction or execution — Both parties must sign the marital agreement. The language must be clear and unambiguous. Vague documents are unenforceable.

Hope Law Firm provides quality litigation services to couples seeking to enforce or invalidate marital agreements during divorce. We also represent a wide variety of other family law matters.