Prenuptial Agreements
Prenuptial agreements are not for everyone. Some fiancés do not want to contemplate the terms of a potential divorce before they have even been married. But, in some situations, it makes sense to clearly define what is separate and what is marital property, how marital property will be divided in case the marriage dissolves, and the amount of maintenance that might be paid, if any.
Prenuptial Agreements may make sense for you and your fiancé, particularly if:
• one or both of you have already been through a divorce;
• there is a significant financial disparity between you;
• one of you has made a sacrifice – relocation, property, a job – to be with the other;
• you want to protect a professional practice or family business;
• you do not want to assume each other's present and/or future debts.
We mediate prenuptial agreements. While prenuptials are practical, they are not very romantic. Therefore, we recommend that you and your fiancé use mediation or the collaborative process to come up with agreed terms that are fair to you both. An added benefit of using one of these processes is that you will gain experience engaging in a difficult problem-solving process with your fiancé, listening to each other while still asserting your own interests. After preparing a prenuptial through mediation, we recommend that each of you obtain lawyers to review the mediated agreement to make sure that you understand it fully and that your rights are protected.
We can also prepare a prenuptial agreement for you independently, review one prepared on behalf of your fiancé, or prepare one collaboratively with you, your fiancé, and your fiancé's attorney. We will help you understand how marriage will affect your assets, and see that the agreement reached is fair and in accord with the laws of New York.
Cohabitation Agreements
We also help unmarried couples prepare cohabitation agreements.
When unmarried partners separate or one of the partners dies, the law regards them as if they were strangers - without respect to the level of commitment, the longevity of the relationship, or whether the partners are same-sex or opposite-sex. A cohabitation agreement is essentially a contract between the partners that establishes legal rights and obligations that otherwise would not exist. It is up to the couple as to what the agreement specifies, but some common elements are:
• the division of expenses during the course of the relationship;
• the division of property and assets in the event of separation;
• the obligation or waiver of financial support during or after the relationship;
• and the effect that a future marriage of the couple will have on the agreement.
(Lesbian and gay partners especially may want to give consideration to this last point, as New York's stance toward same-sex unions is evolving.)
As with prenuptial agreements, we recommend that couples use mediation or the collaborative process to craft a cohabitation agreement.
There are some things that a cohabitation agreement can not do. To further secure their rights to care for one another, unmarried partners may also want to prepare:
• wills - to provide for the transfer of property and assets in the event of death;
• living wills - to set forth health care directives;
• and health care proxies - to empower your partner to enforce your living will and make health care decisions.
Rosenthal Law & Mediation can help you with any of these tasks.