Prenups: Recent Controversies Over Plans for Perpetuity
The case law surrounding the interpretation and enforcement of prenuptial agreements has become more profound and robust as time has worn on, making it interesting to and essential for family, estate and divorce law practitioners to review recent judicial precedents on a regular, periodic basis to look for guidance in assisting their clients seeking to engage in the private ordering of their new family's financial affairs as they enter into a marriage.
August 14, 2023 at 09:25 AM
11 minute read
Family LawProspective brides and grooms wishing to protect their acquired or inherited wealth, whether existing or expected, and intending to order their financial affairs in the event of death or divorce increasingly more often in today's financially focused environment turn to the prenuptial agreement as an essential part of their wedding planning. The importance of the prenuptial agreement in this process became more notable and widespread in New York with the advent of the Equitable Distribution Law (Domestic Relations Law [DRL] Section 236B) on July 19, 1980, some 43 years ago. For quite some time afterwards, many prenuptial agreements contained so-called "sunset" clauses, which provided for the expiration of the agreement or a portion of its terms after the passage of a specified period of time. However, the vast majority of present day prenuptial agreements have avoided sunset provisions, concentrating instead on a process of planning for perpetuity in recognition that no one lives forever and that roughly half of all marriages in the United States end in divorce prior to the death of one of the spouses.
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