You found the love of your life and you’re planning to get married. However, you and your future mate come from two different financial worlds, so you want your future spouse to sign a prenuptial agreement. While it’s a delicate matter, you feel it’s important and necessary.
You love your future spouse but you also realize not all marriages last a lifetime, so you want to protect your assets. In order to develop the right document, you can access many different online sources for Rhode Island premarital and prenuptial agreements.
Factors that invalidate the prenuptial agreement
To ensure the premarital contract is valid, you also need to consider the following:
- Duress or coercion: Both spouses must read, understand and agree to the terms and conditions of the prenuptial agreement. If one spouse has been forced into signing it, then a spouse can challenge it.
- Mental capacity: Your spouse must have the mental ability to comprehend and consent when signing the document.
- Undervaluing or hiding assets: Sometimes a spouse can be devious and secretive in a prenuptial agreement. The wealthier spouse cannot hide or undervalue stocks, accounts, property or other assets. If this has occurred, then the agreement is fraudulent and invalid.
- Invalid filing: Since the prenup is a legal contract, it needs to be accurate and correct. Misstatements or errors could render it invalid.
- Unenforceable provisions: It cannot make unreasonable stipulations, such as a spouse needs to maintain physical beauty, a particular weight level or other conditions.
Final considerations
You should be able to discuss and arrive at an agreement that’s suitable for both spouses. The prenuptial contract should not be one-sided; rather, it should be reasonable and fair for both parties.
For the prenuptial agreement to be valid and defensible, you need to be sure it is an admissible legal document. Each future spouse can have an attorney review the document to determine if it is valid and fulfills their needs.
