Practicing since 1997 · Virginia · Maryland · D.C. · New Jersey · New York
Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements are enforced under five different standards in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and New York. We draft to the standard of the court that will one day interpret yours.
The clauses your agreement needs depend less on your finances than on where it will be enforced. One rule is constant across all five: child custody and child support cannot be fixed in advance by contract. A court decides those questions when they arise, using the child's best interests, and it is not bound by what the two of you agreed to before the child existed.
Must be in writing and signed by both parties; enforceable without consideration. A challenger must generally show the agreement was not signed voluntarily, or that it was unconscionable when executed and signed without fair disclosure of the other side's property and obligations.
Fairness is judged as of the time the agreement was executed — not as of the time a spouse tries to enforce it years later. New Jersey also expects a written statement of financial assets and liabilities to accompany the agreement.
A voluntariness-and-disclosure framework broadly similar to Virginia's, applied by D.C. courts to agreements executed before marriage.
Marital agreements are governed by contract principles developed through the state's case law, which places real weight on candid financial disclosure and on the relationship of confidence between engaged people.
A premarital or postnuptial agreement must be in writing, signed by both parties, and acknowledged before a notary in the manner required to record a deed. An agreement merely signed and witnessed can fail on execution alone, however fair its terms.
Identifying what each person owns coming in, and keeping it separate rather than letting it convert into marital property through commingling or joint effort.
Keeping a closely held company, professional practice, or ownership stake out of a future division — and out of a valuation fight.
Protecting what is expected to come from parents or a family trust.
Preventing one spouse's student loans, tax liability, or business obligations from becoming a shared burden.
Defining, limiting, or waiving support, where the governing state permits it.
Coordinating the agreement with an existing estate plan so that a first family's inheritance is not displaced.
Addressing elective-share and estate rights, which couples often overlook.
We build the agreement around your assets and around the enforceability standard of the state most likely to interpret it, including a schedule of disclosure prepared to withstand a later challenge.
If you have been handed an agreement by your fiancé(e)'s attorney, you need your own counsel. We read it clause by clause, translate it into plain language, identify what it costs you, and tell you what to renegotiate.
We represent one side and work with opposing counsel toward terms both people can sign without resentment — which is also what makes an agreement durable.
For married couples who did not sign before the wedding, or whose circumstances have changed since.
Agreements can be modified or set aside by a later writing when both spouses agree.
When an agreement is contested in a divorce, we litigate its validity — on either side of that question.
Marital agreements are frequently set aside because one spouse had no attorney of their own. Courts in all five of our jurisdictions look closely at whether the party now objecting had a meaningful opportunity to obtain independent representation, understood what was being surrendered, and was not presented with the document days before the ceremony.
We represent one party. We do not represent both. If your fiancé(e) does not have counsel, we will say so directly and recommend that they retain their own — not as a courtesy, but because an agreement signed by an unrepresented party is more open to later challenge.
Begin several months before the wedding. Signing well in advance removes the argument that the agreement was extracted under time pressure.
Individual attorneys are admitted in specific jurisdictions; not all attorneys are licensed in all states. Every attorney other than the founder serves in an Of Counsel capacity and contracts directly with the firm.
Through our state-licensed attorneys the firm handles marital agreements in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and New York — useful when a couple's assets, employment, or families sit in more than one state.
Nearly three decades of family law work, including agreements drafted to survive a later challenge and agreements litigated when one was brought.
We draft agreements, and we review agreements drafted by the other side. That two-sided experience is what tells us which clauses hold up.
Consultations are scheduled, not queued. Principal law location: 4008 Williamsburg Court, Fairfax, VA 22032.
Consultations are by appointment. Principal law location: 4008 Williamsburg Court, Fairfax, VA 22032.
If your question is not here, ask it at the consultation.
Call (888) 437-7747Possibly. Marital agreements are used as often to allocate debt, to protect a future inheritance, or to define expectations about income and support as they are to divide existing wealth.
No. Those questions are decided by a court when they arise, based on the child's best interests. A provision purporting to settle them in advance will not bind the court.
A prenuptial agreement is signed before the marriage; a postnuptial agreement is signed after. The subject matter overlaps substantially, but a postnuptial agreement is reviewed under a different lens in some states, because the parties are already married and owe each other duties they did not owe as fiancés.
Start several months out and sign well before the date. A signature obtained close to the ceremony invites an argument that it was not voluntary.
You can, but each of the five states imposes requirements on content, disclosure, and execution, and New York additionally requires acknowledgment in the form used to record a deed. A self-drafted document that misses one of those requirements is a document a court may decline to enforce.
Have it reviewed by your own attorney before signing anything. The lawyer who drafted it represents the other side, not you.
Yes. Spouses can amend or revoke a marital agreement by a subsequent written agreement.
Often, but not always, the state where the enforcement proceeding is brought — which may not be where you married or where you live today. Agreements can include a governing-law provision, though a court is not required in every circumstance to honor it.
Yes, and for second marriages it often should. Waivers of elective-share and other spousal estate rights are a routine component, and they need to be consistent with the will and trust documents that accompany them.
It depends on the complexity of the assets, the extent of disclosure required, and how much negotiation the terms take. We discuss fees at the consultation.
Virginia · Maryland · District of Columbia · New Jersey · New York. Consultations are by appointment.
(888) 437-7747