Prenuptial agreements can be very useful tools, but there are some common mistakes that people make that invalidate those prenups. You want to make sure that you fully understand your rights, whether you’re signing a prenup or moving toward divorce with a prenup that you think will stand. If mistakes were made in the past, the prenup may not be as useful as you believe.
For instance, it is very important that a prenup is signed willingly by both parties. There are a few different ways that this stipulation could be violated, potentially invalidating the document entirely:
The person was under duress
The first way that this happens is if the individual was under duress or being pressured to sign. This could happen for a variety of reasons, including financial reasons. For instance, someone might be worried that they would lose the money that they’d already invested in wedding services if they refuse to sign the prenup and the wedding is called off.
There wasn’t enough time
A similar issue is when the prenup is drafted far too close to the wedding day. This may mean that the individual doesn’t have time to read it or doesn’t really have time to consider it. They may also feel pressured by the timeframe to simply sign, whether they agree with it or not. All of these issues could make that prenup invalid if a divorce does occur in the future.
No matter where you are in this process, you can see how important it is for everything to be done in the proper order. Make sure you know exactly what legal rights you have.