Prenuptial agreements are thankfully gaining popularity and shedding many years of unfair stigma, shedding light on their less common cousin, the postnuptial agreement, in the process. A postnuptial agreement offers some of the same protections that a prenuptial agreement does, but operates a bit differently.
In general, prenuptial agreements have more legal muscle than postnuptial agreements, but that does not mean postnuptial agreements are without merit. Postnuptial agreements simply do not enjoy some of the privileges like protecting one spouse from another’s personal debt that prenuptial agreements do.
If you and your spouse regularly have money-related conflicts, postnuptial agreements are a great way to relieve a lot of that tension and provide some ground rules for your relationship. In many cases, postnuptial agreements can provide a release of tensions that threaten to tear a marriage apart, and are able to keep the relationship on solid ground.
Postnuptial agreements, while not generally as binding as a prenuptial agreement, do provide a roadmap for how property may be divided in a divorce scenario, which can bring the stability of the relationship into sharp focus. Often, when the real stakes of losing the relationship and its benefits are made known, it is possible to course correct your marriage and help both parties see that the relationship is worth fighting to preserve.
Here in Texas, we use community property guidelines, which make postnuptial agreements exceptionally useful in some cases.
If you believe that a postnuptial agreement may be right for you, do not hesitate to reach out to an experienced attorney. Appropriate legal counsel can help keep your rights secure as you lay groundless in your marriage.
Source: Findlaw, “What Is a Postnup? Do You Need One?,” Jenny Tsay, accessed June 09, 2017