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Drafting a pre-marital agreement with your fiancé(e) prior to getting married can be a great way to get out ahead of potential marital conflicts and—if those conflicts become irreconcilable—allowing for a more streamlined and hopefully less stressful divorce process. However, relationships can change a lot in the years and decades after vows are exchanged, and the terms of a prenup do not always keep up perfectly with those changes.
Because of that, it is sometimes appropriate to modify such an agreement so that it more effectively addresses your marriage as it exists today—a process that an experienced pre-marital agreements attorney at our firm could provide crucial assistance with. Update your documents quickly and comprehensively with the help of a knowledgeable Chattanooga pre-marital agreement modification lawyer.
Various circumstances could justify a modification to the terms of a pre-marital contract, the most common and obvious of which is the birth of a child. Adding a new member to your family can be an extraordinarily exciting time in your life, but it also adds several new wrinkles to your personal and joint finances. Establishing preliminary agreements about child support and custody preferences can be helpful, if not legally binding, until a court approves them.
Acquiring new property like a car or house is another good reason to make a change to a prenuptial agreement, since determining who will maintain ownership of such substantial assets is often a huge sticking point during divorce negotiations. Likewise, any couple who wants to adjust how they would allocate existing assets and debts in the event of a separation should consider modifying their pre-marital contract to reflect their desired changes.
Finally, it is sometimes best for a couple to just scrap a pre-marital agreement entirely and either start over by drafting a new postnuptial agreement or simply move on without any such binding contract in place. A Chattanooga pre-marital agreement modification attorney could discuss options for these scenarios and others during a confidential consultation.
The same rules that apply when drafting a prenuptial agreement in the first place also apply to modifications of such agreements. In order to be legally enforceable, a pre-marital agreement modification must be:
It is also crucial for each spouse to retain their own lawyer while trying to undertake a prenuptial contract modification in Chattanooga. Even if both parties agree on what modification they want to make and want to work in good faith towards accomplishing a mutual goal, having separate legal counsel can be vital to convincing a court that the agreement produced is equitable to everyone involved.
Changing the terms of a prenuptial contract may be a good move in numerous situations, but that does not mean it is a simple or straightforward endeavor. Given the number of considerations and legal restrictions that may play into this process, proceeding without guidance from experienced legal representation is almost always a recipe for disaster.
Working with a Chattanooga pre-marital agreement modification lawyer is the best way to ensure you get the end result you want from modification proceedings. Call today to schedule a meeting with a dedicated legal professional at our firm.