The Future of Prenuptial Agreements in Florida: Courts Say Yes to Pet Nups and No to Baby Nups

Prenuptial agreements are becoming more widespread, especially among younger couples, and their provisions and applications are becoming more diverse.  The media stereotype of a prenuptial agreement involves a wealthy man with at least one divorce in his past marrying a younger woman and signing a prenuptial agreement specifying the maximum amount of spousal support she can receive if the marriage ends in divorce.  In reality, prenuptial agreements are not only for very wealthy people or couples with big age differences, and some of them do not say anything about spousal support.  Some couples use prenuptial agreements as a way of formalizing a plan for handling their student debt when one or both spouses has a heavy debt burden.  To find out more about how prenuptial agreements might apply to your situation, and how they can even prevent divorce, contact a prenuptial agreement lawyer.

Pet Nups: The Newest Trend in Prenuptial Agreements

Unless a couple signs a prenuptial agreement, the court will consider all the assets they acquire as marital property, which can be divided in a divorce.  In theory, assets that one spouse owned before the marriage are separate property, but the court might decide that they have become marital property, based on how the owner used them.  For example, inherited money is separate property, but if you deposit it in a joint bank account you share with your spouse, it becomes marital property.

Disputes over who gets to keep the family pet can be especially fraught; even if the pet belonged to one spouse before the couple met, they might still battle over who gets to keep the animal when they divorce.  The courts consider animals property; they do not award custody of pets the way they do with children.  It is possible for a couple to share ownership of a pet after a divorce; you can specify almost anything you want in a prenuptial agreement regarding the ownership of family pets after a divorce.

The Law Does Not Recognize Baby Nups

Every prenup is unique; couples have a lot of freedom regarding the provisions in prenuptial agreements.  The one subject that is off-limits in a prenuptial agreement is children.  No provision in a prenuptial agreement regarding how many children a couple will have, how they will raise them, or how they will share parenting responsibilities in the event of a divorce is legally valid.  Courts make child custody and parenting plan decisions based solely on the children’s best interests, not on any agreement the parents made before the children were born.  Despite this, the “baby nup” phenomenon circulating on the Internet can be useful for soon-to-be parents.  Discussing a strategy for caring for your baby during the sleep deprived early months cannot hurt and may reduce conflict related to the stress of adjusting to life with a new baby.

Reach Out to Us Today for Help

A family law attorney can help you draft an enforceable prenuptial agreement or interpret an existing one.  Contact a Boca Raton prenuptial and postnuptial agreement attorney at Schwartz | White about your prenuptial agreement case.

Resource:

people.com/parents/baby-prenups-splitting-parenting-duties/