Many marital agreements are already in place before couples hold their weddings. Prenuptial agreements allow people to enter into marriage with very clear expectations and specific legal protections in place.
Because virtually every couple could benefit in some way from a marital agreement, couples who have been married for some time, possibly decades, may choose to negotiate a postnuptial agreement as a way of protecting their marriage or reducing how devastating a divorce could be in the future.
Negotiations help to minimize complacency
The longer people remain married, the easier it is for them to become complacent about their relationship. They may fail to put in appropriate effort to support their spouse and provide appropriate contributions to their shared household. Those small failures can add up to huge stress on a marital relationship, as spouses frequently come to resent uneven distributions of household responsibility and bad behavior.
Other times, there may be changing household circumstances that necessitate a contract. For example, maybe one spouse recently decided they want to go back to school and change their profession or announced that they want to start a business. They could also be on the cusp of inheriting valuable property from a parent.
A postnuptial agreement gives someone a chance to protect themselves from liability or to clarify that they intend to treat certain property as their separate property if they ever divorce. Additionally, the process of reviewing the contributions that each spouse makes to the household can help reduce the animosity between spouses and potentially set them up for multiple future decades of marital success.
People who know what divorce will bring are less likely to romanticize the process, and those who have reviewed their obligations and expectations for a marriage will be in a better position to maintain a happy relationship.
The best agreements protect the interests of both spouses
A strong postnuptial agreement offers something of value to each of the spouses while also complying with the basic rules for property division in family law matters established in Connecticut code. Both spouses will usually benefit from an agreement, especially if it helps strengthen their relationship and minimize conflict.
Bringing up the idea of a postnuptial agreement with one’s spouse could help those who are worried about their current marital struggles or feel that clearer expectations could strengthen their union. Seeking legal guidance can help to ensure that such conversations are informed in nature.