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With a greater number of adults becoming more reluctant to get or stay married, the rise in prenuptial agreements comes as no surprise. However, an unexpected trend is occurring: many married Americans without prenuptial agreements are beginning to consider postnuptials. While family law experts say it is difficult to predict just how many people are considering these agreements, there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that more and more married couples are considering postnups.
Apparently, postnuptials are not just for people who sense an impending end to their current marriage. Some young happily married individuals are seeking postnups to better account for assets accumulated during a marriage, which may not have been anticipated before the wedding. Many of these individuals, however, do not see postnuptials as a divorce plan. According to one Florida family law attorney, many couples enter into postnuptials amicably. “I think the objective—whether the contract is establishing the dividing of assets or conditional behavior—is to avoid conflict in the event a marriage does end in divorce,” says attorney Robert Merlin.
In many cases, couples are seeking postnuptial agreements for reasons other than divorce. For example, one Florida man says he sought a postnuptial agreement to help his then-wife control her spending. At the time, his wife had a spending problem, she had run up several credit cards and was not paying them off. While the couple used their savings to pay off the debt, the postnuptial agreement was designed to protect the husband from taking on her debt in the event of a divorce.
“There were certain things I wanted her to do,” the husband explained, “like get counseling and not get anymore credit cards—nothing onerous, just logical things. And I wanted them in writing, because I believe you have more credibility that way than just saying ‘I’m going to take care of this.” While his marriage ended in divorce a few years later, the husband says the postnuptial agreement and the spending issues had nothing to do with their reasons for divorce.
There is a misconception that people seek postnuptial agreements for the same reason people seek prenups: to protect assets. There are many reasons a couple or individual may seek a postnup. “I have seen everything from people having disagreed on how to raise a child […] to when the child should go to soccer practice and when they should have to do homework,” says one family law expert.
While these contracts are growing in popularity, men are those primarily seeking these agreements. Some legal experts stress that postnuptial agreements are beneficial for both parties. “Such a contract can ease tension and help some couples eliminate a point of contention from their lives,” says one family law expert.