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Postnuptial Agreements | Pennsylvania Family Law Blog - The Law Offices of Sheryl R. Rentz

How a Postnuptial Can Protect Your Family Business

By Sheryl Rentz on December 3, 2020

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Marriage brings a lot of changes to your life. You may have children, move to a new home, and change your lifestyle over time. All throughout, you hope for financial security.

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Is a Post-Nuptial Agreement What Your Marriage Needs?

By Sheryl Rentz on October 13, 2011

Married couples have disagreements for many reasons, although, in the current recession, the main clashing point tends to revolve around a couple’s financial situation. Financial disputes and worries can cause emotional stress, which, if left unresolved, can take its toll on a marriage. According to The Huffington Post, however, all your marriage may need to de-stress and move on is a post-nuptial agreement.

Similar to a pre-marital agreement, a post-nuptial agreement is a voluntary, signed contract that codifies each spouse’s responsibilities and obligations regarding spending, debt, and assets. However, post-nuptial agreements, as the name suggests, is an after-marriage contract. Having a pre- or post-nuptial agreement does not determine the success of every marriage, but every marriage is different, and some marriages have deep-seeded issues that can be resolved with a legal contract. Some of these issues include: Read the rest »

Agreeing While You Still Can: What a Post Nuptial Agreement Can Do For You

By Sheryl Rentz on August 18, 2010

When two people get engaged, plan out a wedding, and officially become a married couple, they often do not take into consideration the repercussions that may result from a divorce. For many couples, the mere mentioning of a pre-marital agreement can be rather offsetting, particularly if its mentioning comes at an inopportune time. However, even if a pre-marital agreement was not decided upon prior to saying “I do,” a post-nuptial agreement can always be drawn up after the wedding.

Like a pre-nuptial agreement, post-nuptial agreements are legally binding contracts that stipulate the allocation of goods or assets in the event a marriage ends in divorce. These agreements should not be considered evidence of bad things to come, but as safeguards in the event that a marriage unforeseeably must come to an end. Post-nuptial agreements protect property acquired prior to and during marriage, assets and monetary accounts that a couple does not want to be considered communal, and can even stipulate power of attorney in the event of harm befalling one or both married individuals. If a couple is contemplating having children together, a post-nuptial agreement can also stipulate custody arrangements and other matters pertaining to those children. (However, it should be realized that in family court, the best interests of a child are always given top priority, and all decisions made regarding children are at the discretion of the court.) Read the rest »

Court: Widow Can’t Use Husband’s Frozen Sperm

By Sheryl Rentz on December 17, 2008

In an interesting case regarding the rights of widowed spouses, a Sacramento state appeals court has ruled that Iris Kievernagel cannot use her deceased husband’s frozen sperm to become pregnant because he had made it clear he did not want to father a child posthumously. In a recently made public ruling, the appeals court ruled that if only one spouse has contributed genetic material, “the intent of the donor” must control its disposition after death. Read the rest »

Postnuptial Agreements Increasing in Popularity

By Sheryl Rentz on September 15, 2008

A recent article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune discussed the recent surge of postnuptial agreements. These agreements are very similar to a premarital agreement, but instead are entered into AFTER a couple has been married. While they are still very rare (only 1 or 2 percent of married couples request postnuptial agreements) the agreements could become more popular in the near future as they become more common in practice. In fact, a 2007 study by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) indicated that 49 percent of the members said they’d seen an increase in postnups in the past five years. Read the rest »

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