As you are sitting in a law firm waiting to discuss your divorce case with a family law attorney, you may wonder why you ever agreed to sign a prenuptial agreement. While prenuptial agreements are legally binding documents, there is a chance that an attorney might be able to help you fight yours during your divorce. Fighting a prenup can be difficult, unless your lawyer can prove there is a valid reason that the prenup is not legally binding. Here are three arguments your attorney might use to help you with this.
The Agreement Is Unconscionable
While there are several different rules that apply to legally binding prenuptial agreements, and one of these rules is that the agreement must be conscionable. In other words, if the agreement is designed in a way that is unconscionable, the court may overturn it and disregard its content during a divorce.
An unconscionable agreement is one that is one-sided too much. While prenups are generally used to protect one spouse's assets, they cannot be written in a way that would leave the other spouse completely broke and desolate after a divorce or death.
For example, if the agreement states that your spouse will receive all assets and you will receive all debt if a divorce or death occurs, this would be considered unconscionable. This is completely unfair, because you would be left with nothing except bills.
This is a common argument used when fighting prenuptial agreements, and your lawyer might suggest using this if the agreement appears to be severely lopsided. Of course, it will be up to the court to determine if the agreement is or is not unconscionable. If the court decides that the agreement is fine, you will be forced to stick with the terms in the agreement. If the court decides it is unconscionable, the court will be left choosing how to divide the assets and debts you jointly have.
It Contains False Or Incomplete Information
If you have evidence that proves the information contained in the agreement is false or incomplete, your lawyer may suggest using this argument to fight the prenup during your divorce case.
False or incomplete information often relates to financial details. When the prenup is created, it should list every asset that each spouse has. If you discover that your spouse did not list certain assets on the document, you should tell your attorney. Your spouse may have done this to deceive you, but you can use this against him or her during your divorce.
You Were Tricked Into Signing It
Finally, if you were tricked in any way to sign this document, you might be able to fight it. Being tricked into signing it is something that could have been done in many ways, including the following:
- You were asked to sign a document you didn't have time to read – If your spouse presented you with papers and asked you to quickly sign them, this would be considered unfair and could make the document void.
- You were not given time to read it over – If your spouse told you what it was and quickly explained it to you, but did not give you time to thoroughly examine it, you might also be able to get the document thrown out.
- You were not able to seek counsel about it – Another way you might have been tricked is if your spouse did not give you time to talk to an attorney about it.
If any of these things occurred when you signed the document, you might be able to get the court to drop the agreement altogether.
If you would like to learn more about your rights relating to a prenuptial agreement you signed, talk to a family law attorney today. This is a great way to find out if you have a case, and you might end up benefitting tremendously if you can get the court to drop the prenup. Click here for more information.
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