No matter how much they once cared for each other or how well-intentioned they may be, spouses can grow apart over time and feel trapped in an unhappy marriage. Sometimes, it is a gradual diminishment of the affection between spouses that leads to a breakdown of the marital relationship.
Other times, the development of dangerous or offensive habits, ranging from gambling to infidelity, could undermine the trust and respect upon which people build a healthy marriage. Divorce can often seem like the only reasonable option when your spouse starts making decisions that impact your finances or endanger your health.
Those experiencing intense marital turmoil may choose to soldier on or even enter marriage counseling as a way of addressing their issues. Too many people overlook a powerful tool that could save their marriage or at least make ending the marriage easier. Creating and signing a postnuptial agreement could help you improve the state of your marriage and, if your efforts to remain married fail, it could allow you to file for a faster, uncontested divorce in Texas.
What’s the point of creating a postnuptial agreement?
Fewer people are familiar with postnuptial agreements when compared with their sibling, the prenuptial agreement. However, as you may have already inferred from the name, the documents can contain very similar guidance.
A postnuptial agreement can serve as a means for spouses to explicitly outline their expectations for the marriage or their spouse. Both spouses can agree to treat certain assets as separate property or even outline the exact way they intend to split their possessions and the custody of their children if they end up going forward with a divorce.
You don’t even need to have marital issues to benefit from a postnuptial agreement. Those experiencing good fortune, such as starting a business or receiving an inheritance, can also benefit. In addition to serving as a guide for divorce proceedings, a postnuptial agreement could also help people work to save their marriage from divorce.
Making expectations clear and assigning penalties can motivate better behavior
When you negotiate a postnuptial agreement, you can make clear the division of marital responsibilities, as well as what kinds of behaviors are simply unacceptable. In some cases, spouses may agree to penalty clauses that allocate certain assets as benefits to one spouse if the other partner behaves in an inappropriate manner or fails to meet certain expectations.
That financial incentive can help a struggling individual improve their behavior. It can also give someone trying to work on their marriage a reason to stick around and give their spouse a second chance.
Uncontested divorces are possible in even the most contentious marital situation if spouses are willing to work with one another. Creating a postnuptial agreement when you first recognize marital discord may be a way to protect your marriage or at least minimize the financial and emotional impact of a divorce.
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