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The main difference between the two contacts, of course, is that while a prenup–also known as an antenuptial agreement or premarital agreement–is entered before a marriage occurs, a postnup is a contact that the couple agrees to after getting married.
Perhaps not surprisingly, especially given the wealth that exists here, postnuptial agreements have caught on in the Bucks County region. And just as there are any number of reasons a couple may decide to separate or divorce, there are also any number of reasons a happily married couple may choose to enter into a postnuptial agreement.
“Most people probably don’t even realize a postnuptial agreement is even an option,” says legal consultant Chris Stachtiaris, quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. After learning that such an agreement is an option, it makes sense that couples who perhaps find themselves regretting not creating a prenup may be interested in having a postnup drawn up.
Sometimes this happens when certain business assets exist within a family. If a married child of a business owner stands to receive a substantial amount of stock in the family’s company, for instance, the parents may ask their son to create a postnuptial agreement with his spouse.
In most cases, that postnup would clarify the stock as a nonmarital asset. And should the son and his wife ever get a divorce, the postnup would legally require the wife to forfeit any company stock.
And yet the reality is that postnups are probably most often sought out and drawn up after one married spouse has been caught committing an extramarital affair, or some other sort of marital misconduct.
A wife who has been cheated on but isn’t necessarily intent on leaving the marriage may have a postnuptial agreement drawn up in which she agrees to remain in the marriage, but only if her husband pays her, or perhaps agrees to begin giving her a substantial allowance, or maybe even a new vehicle.
A similar postnuptial contract might insist that if the cheating spouse doesn’t stop his or her affair immediately, the other spouse will receive a much greater share of the marital assets as a result. If that same couple had a prenuptial agreement drawn up prior to their marriage, a postnup could, in some cases, render portions of it essentially invalid.
And because postnuptial agreements are legal contracts, occasionally married couples will have them written up simply to plainly spell out various aspects of married life, as well as each spouse’s responsibilities therein.
According to the Pittsburgh-based lawyer Ken Horoho, postnups he’s seen have included provisions ranging from how many vacations a married couple will take to how many times each week they’re required to have sex. “Postnuptial agreements,” he says, in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “can get bizarre.”
No matter what your reasons may be, the family law attorneys at Penglase & Benson, Inc. understand the situation you face. Thanks to our 65 years of combined legal experience, we’re able to guide our clients to the very best possible outcome, no matter what their goals may be.
Contact us today to find out how we can help you.
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