Prenuptial Agreement

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Prenuptial Agreement Attorney

With more people getting married later in life, or entering second and third marriages, people are bringing an accumulation of property into their union. While that property is generally not a marital asset in Pennsylvania, the increase in value of that property during the marriage is. If you wish to keep your accumulated assets separate, or if you have other legal issues you wish to discuss before marriage, you and your future spouse can enter into a prenuptial or premarital agreement.

I'm Lee A. Schwartz, a family law lawyer in Philadelphia, and I often draft prenuptial agreements for people who own businesses or own separate assets they want to protect from becoming marital property. Sometimes the other party will look at the agreement with distaste upon approaching a marriage. However, both parties should understand that it is not a matter of trust or love. It's a matter of business. Hopefully both parties can negotiate it, sign it, put it in a safety deposit box, and never use it.

Each party has the opportunity to secure his or her own attorney when negotiating a premarital agreement, although this is not required by law in order to make the agreement valid. A premarital agreement is a binding contract which will dictate the terms of a divorce settlement in the event of a subsequent divorce.

Sometimes people also include a discussion of alimony or spousal support in their premarital agreement; whether alimony will be paid and, if so, how it will be calculated and for how long it will be paid.

For more information or to discuss your prenuptial agreement, contact me, Philadelphia family law attorney Lee A. Schwartz. I am associated with the Spear Wilderman Law Firm.