Prenuptial agreements are more popular today than ever, as more and more couples who are entering into marriage are choosing to sign prenups, wanting to preserve their assets obtained from both before and during the relationship. However, with more and more prenuptial agreements being drafted and signed, there are more mistakes being made. These mistakes can have an impact when, in the event of a divorce, the prenup is examined, and the impact that a provision has, or how it will be interpreted, may not be at all what either or both of the spouses understood it to originally mean. Some of these mistakes can happen in the process of agreeing to a prenup, and many mistakes revolve around not confirming the enforceability of the provisions.
If you try to coax your soon-to-be spouse into signing a prenup, there is a very high probability that the courts will throw it out and disregard it entirely. Of course, a spouse has to prove that someone coerced them into signing the document. This could mean they were blackmailed, threatened, or even just aggressively pressured into signing. The last reason commonly arises because the wedding is coming up, and every day that passes takes more time off the clock, creating more stress, and a higher likelihood of aggressive and relentless persisting and, usually, coercion to sign. A simple way to avoid this? Nip it in the bud early, and start organizing to have the prenuptial agreement written and signed way in advance. That way you can enjoy your wedding!
Another mistake occurs when a spouse attempts to create the prenup on his or her own without legal expertise or advice. What usually comes from this are provisions that are lopsided, and consequently unenforceable or unconscionable. If the court finds the agreement to predominantly look like this, they will throw the agreement out entirely. This is why it is important to always work with a divorce lawyer, as they will know what you should and should not include in the agreement, with respect to the law. Another issues that also arises from doing your own prenup is that ambiguous, or vague, language runs amuck throughout, which means that the agreement will not always be interpreted the way you thought it would be. With legal documents, wording is everything. When the possession of your worldly assets are impacted by these legal documents, the wording must be perfect, and leave nothing to chance.