Prenuptial Agreement in Seattle

Sometimes the idealism of a wedding day gives way to the pain of problems that can't be overcome, so it's important to fully understand the implications of a divorce before getting married. Even the strongest marriages can fail, so for people who own significant assets, a prenuptial agreement offers a legal means to protect assets before saying, "I do." If you would like to find out more about how you may be able to legally protect your premarital assets, our Seattle prenuptial agreement lawyers can help.

Prenuptial agreements are widely misunderstood, much of which has to do with how they are portrayed on television and in the movies. Our experienced Seattle family law attorneys will help you understand how these contracts actually work, and what the law requires from them.

To begin with, every prenuptial agreement must be fair and balanced, which requires the legal knowledge of experienced King County prenuptial agreement attorneys who understand what Washington means by this requirement. If your prenuptial agreement fails to reveal all of the facts concerning your assets, or only considers your personal interests, the Washington court will likely render the contract void if the day comes that it needs to be enforced.

Our Seattle prenuptial agreement lawyers understand that you require a contract that the court will recognize as valid. With more than 50 years of combined experience crafting prenuptial agreements in Seattle, we understand how this process works, and what the court requires from these contracts.

If you're planning your wedding day, get professional legal guidance from one of our experienced Seattle family law attorneys. Protect your assets now, or you could end up regretting it in the future.

If you get all of your information about prenuptial agreement from television and the movies, you probably have a lot of misconceptions on the topic. Most people are unaware how common prenuptial agreements are, and you may want to consider signing one for a variety of reasons.

If one partner is bringing significant debt into the marriage, a prenuptial agreement protects the other partner from acquiring that debt if the marriage fails. If you own valuable personal property that you want to protect in case the marriage doesn't go as planned, a prenuptial agreement can protect it.

In the movies, you often see prenuptial agreements signed when one partner is much wealthier than another partner, and this is about the only time they're portrayed accurately. Couples who have been previously married or have children with other partners may also choose to sign a prenuptial agreement.

While you are perfectly free to include provisions for child custody and support in your prenuptial agreement, there are no legal provisions to make it binding. The Washington Court will act in the best interests of the child no matter what's included in a prenup, and support will be calculated according to established protocols. If you have any more questions about prenups, contact a Seattle prenuptial agreement lawyer today.

The qualified litigators from the Washington Family Law Group will explain various methods for creating a prenuptial agreement that is customized to your goals and financial situation. We will seek to minimize potential problems that could arise with the contract if a divorce proves unavoidable and you have to use the agreement in court.

Our Seattle family law attorneys will thoroughly detail which party controls every asset, and then help you delineate how those assets will be shared with your spouse as your marriage matures over time. This is a realistic approach to crafting a prenuptial agreement, and it gives your contract a far better chance of being recognized by the court than if you fail to follow these guidelines.

Schedule your own free consultation with one of our Washington State prenuptial agreement lawyers today. We can discuss your current financial situation and provide you with more details about the process. You will then be able to use that knowledge for the purpose of deciding whether pursuing a prenuptial agreement is wise for you.

Our Seattle prenuptial agreement attorneys will use their extensive knowledge of the law to help you craft a legally binding contract that has the best chance of being enforceable at a future date. Contact our Seattle law office today and find out how you can protect the assets you've worked hard to obtain.

Our Seattle prenuptial agreement lawyers are often asked if prenups are even valid or enforceable. There seems to be a widespread misperception that they are no longer accepted by our courts. This is untrue. Despite rumors to the contrary, these prenuptial agreements remain an important part of Washington’s divorce laws.

Listen, no one likes the idea of entering a marriage with the thought that it will one day fail. It is also often an extremely difficult discussion to have with your future spouse. If, however, you have significant assets prior to entering into your contemplated marriage, you owe it to yourself to proactively explore your options.

At its core, this type of agreement is really nothing more than a contract entered into by two people prior to their marriage. Within this contract, the parties decide how their debts and assets will be divided if they end up getting a divorce, filing for legal separation, seeking an annulment, or when one of them dies.

The prenuptial memorializes all of these agreements and attempts to set them out clearly and precisely before the parties are married. In certain situations, couples wait until after they are married to make these arrangements. In these situations, the contract is then often referred to as a “marital agreement” or a "postnuptial agreement".

The general rule for enforceability of prenuptial agreements is that they must be fair and transparent. As a practical matter, they are much more likely to be enforced by a court down the road if it is both equitable and if the parties are honest, clear and transparent about their assets and debts in the disclosure sections of the contract.

This includes their finances, their salaries and other income, their possessions, their property, and their liabilities. The court is really looking to see if the both of the parties entered into the agreement with their eyes wide open and with a complete disclosure on each side.

For obvious reasons, coercion and lack of detail are frowned upon. Another problem that can arise with these type of contracts is when one or both of the parties fails to follow them during the marriage. Depending on the specific facts and circumstances involved, this can sometimes make the prenup wholly or partially unenforceable.

From a purely legal standpoint, a prenuptial agreement does not have to be drafted by an lawyer to be enforceable. As a practical matter, however, prenuptial and postnuptial agreements can be very complex. More importantly, they can be deemed unenforceable if they are not carefully written. That's why it is important to have the help from experienced Washington prenuptial agreement attorneys if you would like to pursue this.

While there are no absolute guarantees when it comes to prenups, our Seattle prenuptial agreement lawyers can help make sure your agreement has the best chance of being enforced down the road given the specific facts of your situation. The Washington State prenuptial agreement lawyers from our firm will also require that your future spouse seek out independent legal counsel prior to memorializing the contract. This means that they will have their own attorney review the agreement prior to accepting its terms.