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Home/Practice Areas/Family Law/Premarital and marital agreements
A good agreement is written so that it is boring to enforce. That takes doing it properly at the time, not cheaply.
Family Law
Premarital agreements are enforceable in Texas without consideration, and the burden falls on the person attacking the agreement. They fail on two grounds: that it was not signed voluntarily, or that it was unconscionable when signed and the challenging spouse did not receive fair disclosure of the other's property and obligations, did not waive that disclosure, and could not reasonably have known about it. Almost every successful challenge traces back to how the signing was handled.
Spouses can also partition or exchange community property into separate property during the marriage, and can agree that future income from separate property remains separate. These are common where a business is being started, an inheritance is arriving, one spouse is taking on liability the other should not share, or a couple is reconciling and wants to settle financial questions in writing.
Business owners with partners who need certainty. Second marriages where each side has children to protect. Anyone entering a marriage with substantial separate property, an inheritance in prospect, or significant debt. And couples who would simply rather decide these questions calmly now than argue about tracing later — which is, in practice, the strongest argument for having one.
Yes, and the burden falls on the person attacking the agreement. They fail mainly on voluntariness or on unconscionability combined with inadequate disclosure.
Full written disclosure by both sides, independent lawyers, and enough time before the wedding that nobody can claim they were pressured.
You can, and it is the most common reason agreements are attacked later. Independent counsel now costs a fraction of litigating enforceability later.
No. Provisions purporting to limit child support or fix custody are not enforceable, and including them invites scrutiny of the whole document.
An agreement made during the marriage, commonly partitioning community property into separate property or agreeing how future income is characterised.
Business owners with partners, second marriages with children to protect, anyone with substantial separate property or debt, and couples who would rather decide calmly now.
Yes, by a written amendment or revocation signed by both spouses. It cannot be changed by one side or by how the couple has been behaving.
It is a financial conversation between two adults about to merge their finances. Couples who can have it usually do well with the rest of the conversation too.
The nearer the ceremony, the easier it is to argue the signature was not voluntary. Negotiating over weeks rather than days removes the argument.
Texas community property rules apply by default, and the characterisation of assets is settled by tracing and records rather than by agreement.
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