Ogden UT Prenuptial Attorney

Under Utah law, prenuptial agreements are actually called premarital agreements.  There are specific requirements that premarital agreements must follow in order to be valid and enforceable in a court of law.  Our Ogden family law attorneys have drafted numerous prenuptial / premarital agreements that have helped relieve concerns and enable parties to enter into the marriage relationship with confidence.  We will help you negotiate, draft, review, and finalize your premarital agreements.

Why have a prenuptial / premarital agreement?

Having a premarital agreement in place doesn’t necessarily mean that the two individuals about to get married don’t trust each other.  Instead, it often means the two individuals have thought through their individual circumstances and have acknowledged that both would be better off with certain protections in place.  For example, if one spouse has a large amount of debt and the other spouse is debt-free, a premarital agreement can spell out exactly how this debt should be handled and afford the debt-free spouse their desired protections. Where one spouse has been previously divorced and gone through a traumatizing litigation process, a premarital agreement may give them the peace of mind they need to enter into a new marriage relationship with full confidence.  Where one or both spouses have children from other relationships, a premarital agreement can ensure that these children won’t experience financial hardship in the event the new marriage results in divorce.  In other words, premarital agreements can protect the marrying parties’ peace of mind, their assets, their children, and can limit the need for stressful and expensive litigation down the road.

Are there things that should NOT go into a prenuptial / premarital agreement?

Yes.  Premarital agreements must be carefully drafted in order to be legally enforceable.  For example, under Utah family law, spouses cannot waive child support in a premarital agreement.  Additionally, spouses cannot determine who will take custody of unborn children, nor can they legally decide what the future parent-time/visitation schedule will be for children.

Spouses should be aware of the danger of putting in “infidelity” or “affair” clauses into their premarital agreements.  (I.E. if one spouse cheats on the other they will lose everything).  Terms like these are extremely hard to adequately define.  Furthermore, infidelity clauses have frequently been thrown out by courts across the country, but only after both spouses spent thousands of dollars in litigation trying to prove the other spouse cheated.