Post-Nutial Agreements – What Are They & Why Do I Need One?

Even after you are married, there may come a time when you want to alter the default community property laws in Nevada.  You are able to do so through a postnuptial agreement. A postnuptial is nothing more than a contract between spouses outlining their agreement on how to divide their assets, debts, and income in the event of a divorce. However, there are a few rules to remember when it comes to post-nuptial agreements.

First, postnuptial agreements may only deal with finances, i.e. division of assets and debts and alimony. Postnuptial agreements (as is the same for prenuptial agreements) cannot address the issue of custody or child support.

Second, postnuptial agreements CANNOT contain a waiver of alimony. Unlike prenuptial agreements, which may contain a waiver of alimony, post-nuptial agreements that waive alimony are perceived to be automatically invalid.

Third, the agreement must not be unconscionable (one-sided) and not violate Nevada public policy. Most often, we see post-nuptial agreements to protect the purchase of real property (i.e. you and your parents are buying a house, they hate your spouse and your parents do not want your spouse to have any interest in this property), or to protect the co-mingling of inherited funds.  There are also some cases where a spouse may want to be protected from the other parties’ financial misconduct in acquiring a significant amount of debt (such as that party is gambling and taking out loans).

As a side note, if you do not want the expense of a postnuptial agreement and your spouse has agreed to waive their interest in your purchase of real property, you can resolve this simply by having that spouse execute a Grant, Baring, and Sale Deed stating they relinquish their interest in that real property. Note it must be a Grant, Bargain, and Sale Deed. Quit-Claim deeds do not have the same effect and do not eliminate that spouses’ community property interest in that real property. To be 100% on the safe side, a postnuptial agreement will be the best confirmation of an agreement between the spouses to alter the default community property laws.

If you have any questions on whether you should consider a postnuptial agreement, contact our office today at 775-622-9245 or [email protected]