Keep the Marriage, Lose the Financial Entanglements?

The decision about whether to marry your partner or live together as unmarried domestic partners often comes down to money and the emotions attached to it. For example, the actors Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins had a decades long romantic relationship, during which they lived in the same house and raised children together. Once, while their relationship was still going strong, a journalist asked them whether they planned to marry, and they said that they did not want to ruin a good thing with a piece of paper. By contrast, when unmarried couples who have minor children together break up, they are entitled to a court-ordered parenting plan, but the court does not recognize either spouse’s right to the other’s property or earnings; marital property only exists within a legally acknowledged marriage. You didn’t marry your spouse because of money; in fact, money seems to be ruining your relationship. You love everything about your spouse except the way your spouse handles money and the conflict you and your spouse have about financial decisions. It has gotten so bad that you are considering divorce. Before you file for divorce, consider that it is possible to stay married to your spouse while divorcing your spouse’s money. To find out more about separating your finances from your spouse’s while staying married, contact a Boca Raton prenuptial and postnuptial agreement lawyer.

Can Postnuptial Agreements Prevent Divorce?

Divorce legally ends a marriage, leaving the parties single and eligible to enter new marriages. It also divides the couple’s marital property according to a mediated agreement by the couple or a judge’s decision about the fairest way to divide it. Some couples want to separate their finances but stay legally married to each other. In Florida, the simplest way to do this is by signing a postnuptial agreement. It is like a prenup, except that you are already married when you sign it. In a postnup, you can declare some or all of your property nonmarital.

Some states recognize legal separation, where the couple stays legally married but divides their property, but Florida does not. You can get the next best thing to legal separation in Florida by signing a postnup while you and your spouse have separated and plan to continue living separately indefinitely. Postnups can also be for couples who want to stay together but need to resolve a contentious financial issue. For example, the postnup can stipulate that a certain bank account or real estate property belongs to only one spouse, even if the couple acquired it during their marriage; without the postnup, the court would consider the asset marital. Postnups are as effective at keeping the peace in probate cases as they are in divorce cases; they can prevent not only divorce, but also inheritance disputes.

Contact Schwartz | White About Postnuptial Agreements

A South Florida family law attorney can help you save your marriage, or else divorce peacefully, by signing a postnuptial agreement.  Contact Schwartz | White in Boca Raton, Florida about your case.

Source:

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