By Tonya Graser Smith | Kiplinger
Thinking about divorce? You wouldn’t be alone this year – what with the pandemic causing divorces to spike – or any year, as many couples opt to start the next 12 months fresh by splitting up.
But maybe you’re not ready for your marriage to become another COVID-19 victim. There is an intermediate step you could take before you invest time, money and energy in getting divorced. Instead, you could plan your divorce – with a postnuptial agreement. This step would allow you to work on your relationship while also knowing that if it doesn’t work out you’ve created an outline for how you and your partner will get divorced.A postnuptial agreement is exactly what it sounds like. It’s an agreement that is made after a couple is married, and it’s about what will happen financially if they divorce. It’s signed by both parties and is notarized and private.
Now, a post-nup can’t address what will happen to children, because child custody can’t be covered in a post-nup. There also can’t be any financial incentive for one spouse to leave the marriage.
A postnuptial agreement is a great tool for creating some predictability in the event divorce while simultaneously giving yourselves room to continue to working towards a happy and healthy marriage. But keep in mind it’s not a solution to all your problems. If your marriage is suffering and you want it to survive, in addition to a postnuptial agreement, you likely want to consider companion services like marriage counseling to make sure you are fully committed to making things work.
–Audra Petrolle, Rose Law Group Family Law Attorney
