Prenuptial, Dissolution, & Cohabitation Agreements

Many people wonder why anyone who is about to get married would think about what would happen if they got divorced. They may assume what’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine. However, this is not exactly the law in Florida. Kofsky Law Office has extensive experience drafting and negotiating prenuptial agreements, and helped clients decide whether a prenuptial agreement is right for them.

A prenuptial agreement, also called a “prenup”, is a contract that defines the character and disposition of property, defines issues of spousal support, and, as needed, can define the husband’s and wife’s obligations to support the marital home and how finances will be managed during the marriage.  The agreement controls the identification of property that you owned before the marriage and changes in its value and the character and disposition of marriage acquired during the marriage. 

It typically lists the property owned by each person as well as their debts, and specifies what each person’s property rights will be after marriage.

Prenuptial agreements are becoming more popular for a number of reasons. More people are getting married later in life, and this means that they have likely acquired more assets and debt before getting married. In addition, more people have children from prior relationships when they get married. Prenuptial contracts allow couples to negotiate these often-tricky situations beforehand.

Prenuptial agreements are not just for wealthy people who want to protect their assets. Anyone getting married can have separate property and there are often good reasons to stay that way:

• If one spouse brings much greater financial assets and property into the marriage than the other
• If one spouse gives up a well-paying job or career in order to stay at home with children or to follow the other spouse to a new geographic location
• If one spouse is part of a family business
• If one spouse or both spouses have children from prior marriages
• If the spouses have different investment and retirement goals due to age disparity or philosophical reasons.

Money problems are one of the primary causes of divorce in New York. Discussing each person’s assets and debts ahead of time can prevent disputes from occurring later on.