Recap of Recent News about Postnuptial Agreements

By MaritalMediation Staff on October 30, 2010

We’ve been publishing a lot about postnuptial agreements so we put together a summary below. There’s also more information on our Postnuptial Agreements page.

Recent articles about Postnuptial Agreements:

Ansin V. Craven-Ansin Postnuptial News

The issue is the validity of the postnuptial agreement and whether they may be specifically enforced. See Fogg v. Fogg, 409 Mass. 531, 536 (1991). The Massachusetts Supreme Court recent announced its ruling. Here are some opinions by recent news organizations and experts.

ALI Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution on Postnuptial Agreements

Under ALI, Marital agreements have same standards as prenuptial agreements. The ALI takes the position that the principles applicable to marital and premarital agreements are the same and suggests, as some States have done, applying substantially the same standards for enforceability of both types of agreements. § 7.01 and Reporter’s Notes to comment e, citing Reese v. Reese, 984 P.2d 987 (Utah 1999). Some courts, such as the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court have held that the higher standards of equity applicable to separation agreements are applicable to marital agreements. See Ansin v. Craven-Ansin, SJC-10548 (July 16, 2010).

Tiger Woods Postnuptial Agreement Conclusion

As you can tell, Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren have a lot of hurdles that they face. To negotiate a postnuptial agreement, they would have to go through all of Tiger Woods’ assets. Future assets could be more difficult to quantify if there’s a chance Woods’ endorcement deals suffer from the scandal.

McCourt Postnuptial Agreement Has Multiple Copies

If you sign more than one postnuptial agreement, make sure you agree on which one is the official copy. That would appear to be one lesson from this week’s McCourt trial in Los Angeles at which the ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers is at stake. From Bloomberg:

Justin Musk Talks About Elon Musk’s Postnuptial Agreement Intentions

Justin Musk wrote a long article with the history of her courtship, marriage, and divorce from Elon Musk. She has appealed the ruling on the postnuptial case in California, which hinges on the question of whether mediation confidentiality should trump marital fiduciary duty.

Granatino V Radmacher UK Postnuptial Agreement

There’s lots of buzz in the UK legal scene about the Granatino v Radmacher decision and how it will shape law for both prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. We have a rundown from across the news and blogosphere.

McCourt Postnuptial Statements Of Decision

The attorneys for Frank and Jamie McCourt have submitted their statements of decision to the judge on Monday, moving the process forward to determine the validity of their postnuptial agreement.

William Levine on Ansin V. Craven-Ansin Postnuptial Agreement Discussion

What better way is there for a mediator to help a couple who really do not want to divorce than a process that can take the spectre of contested divorce proceedings out of play, and thus, out of the way of the spouses’ efforts to stay together? The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“S.J.C.”) has finally recognized that “marital agreements” i are not invalid per se, but rather, they are permissible, and fully enforceable if created in a way that it will survive “careful scrutiny”, as prescribed by the Court ii . As always, though, opportunities come with challenges; and clients, lawyers and mediating professionals alike need learn important lessons from Ansin v. Craven-Ansin. iii

Fogg v. Fogg Massachusetts Postnuptial Agreement

Fogg v. Fogg, 409 Mass. 531 (1991), is a postnuptial agreement enforceability case, in which the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) denied enforcement of the agreement. It was a second marriage for both, and each had children from previous marriages. This is a situation in which a prenuptial agreement could have been very helpful for marital and family peace. If not done prior to the marriage, a postnuptial agreement could have been formulated with a marital mediator, and reviewed by estate planning attorneys followed by adopting an estate plan. This can be extremely helpful to the couples embarking on second marriages.

Rebecca Davis Interview on Marriage, Divorce, and Postnuptial Agreements

Noted author Rebecca Davis sat down for a talk with MaritalMediation recently. Rebecca’s book More Perfect Unions has been getting great reviews for its unique perspective on how the institution of marriage developed. You can read her rave reviews in the New Yorker, Slate, and Washington Post. Believe it or not, there was a time when marriage counseling didn’t exist, and Rebecca provides a fascinating look at how marriage has shifted with the cultural winds of the last few generations.

Elon Musk Rebuttal to Wife’s Postnuptial Agreement Claims

Elon Musk is the billionaire who co-founded PayPal and started Tesla Motors and SpaceX. He’s an amazingly accomplished person who got divorced, but previously his wife had signed a postnuptial agreement shortly after they got married. She’s contested it through the California court system.

A California Postnuptial Agreement: Manson V. Shepherd

A California court of appeals document in the Manson v. Shepherd case was recently published. The case concerns a postnuptial agreement, a trust, and disagreement between wife and daughter over financial transactions.

Historical Timeline Of Postnuptial Agreements

In a well-known family-law case, Graham v. Graham, decided in 1940, a court in Michigan refused to enforce an agreement under which a wife had promised to pay her husband $300 per month to quit work and follow her in “her travels.” Although Michigan had by then granted married women the equal rights of contract, the court held that this particular contract was invalid because the parties were married to each other. The enforcement of such an agreement, the Michigan court reasoned, might invite courts into the private realm of a marriage, destroy the flexibility needed to make a marriage work, and invite controversy between husband and wife.

Letter on Ansin v. Craven-Ansin Postnuptial Agreement

A carefully conceived written postnuptial agreement addressing a certain problem that is causing the marriage to derail is often exactly what a couple needs to eliminate the conflict that is tearing the union apart. In our work, we have seen many marriages begin to flourish again after a carefully conceived postnuptial agreement has been put into place.

Raoul Felder Video on Tiger Woods Postnuptial Agreement

RAUL FELDER: Oh sure because typically when you have a prenup, the man’s in power. He says, “If you don’t sign, I’m not going to marry you.” When he’s caught cheating, in this case, cheating, cheating, cheating, cheating the wife says, “I’m not going to stay in the marriage unless you sign this new postnuptial… They’re reduced 10 years to 7 years, and now a total of 85 million dollars, or 85 million dollars, so she stands to lose lots of money if she’s suing for divorce.

Criteria For Writing a Postnuptial Agreement – More on Ansin V. Craven

This week brings more coverage of the Ansin decision in the Business West journal. We’ve been running many stories on the Ansin v. Craven decision, including William Levine’s postnuptial legal overview and other articles related to marital and postmarital agreements.

Drafting Error in McCourt Postnuptial Agreement

Today there was a new turn in the drama of the McCourt trial. Attorney Larry Silverstein of Boston said he made a “drafting error” in an addendum to the McCourt postmarital agreement. Today’s questioning hinged on inconsistencies between different versions of the document and specifically the use of the word “inclusive” and “exclusive”.

Marilyn Stowe on Bomb-Proofing a Postnuptial Agreement

Firstly, the parties must be independently advised before they sign up, even if they have entered mediation and produced an agreement in principal. The problem at that point is neither party may have had independent advice. In order for a postnup to stand up to a court’s scrutiny, both parties should be sent off to their own lawyers to ensure they really do want to sign it and demonstrate that they have the opportunity to gain their own independent advice. Anyone trying to steal a march on the other side runs a risk of it not being upheld. It is essential to remain calm and cool throughout or it won’t work.

Joanna Grossman on Ansin v. Craven-Ansin Postnuptial Agreement

Here are the facts of the case the SJC recently resolved: Kenneth Ansin and Cheryl Craven-Ansin married in 1985. At the time, like ninety-five percent of couples entering into a first marriage, they did not enter into a prenuptial agreement, nor did they make any other attempt to privately determine the financial consequences that would ensue, should they divorce. Nineteen years and two children later, however, they entered into a written agreement “settling all the rights and obligations arising from their marital relationship” in the event of divorce.

Burkle v. Burkle Postnuptial Agreement in California

Burkle v. Burkle was a 2006 California case in which the enforcement of a postnuptial agreement was contested by the wife at the time of divorce (Janet E. Burkle v. Ronald W. Burkle, 139 Cal.App4th 712 2006). In Burkle, a divorce dissolution proceeding was pending when the agreement was executed. The parties withdrew the divorce action and lived together for four more years prior to divorcing.

Burkle Case – Opinion of the California Court of Appeals on Postnuptial Agreements

The issue in this case is the enforceability of a post-marital agreement. We affirm the trial court’s order finding the agreement valid and enforceable.

Justine Musk Blog Post about Her Postnuptial Agreement

The irony of this whole thing is that I don’t want hundreds of millions of dollars . I think my ex-husband is brilliant and works like a demon and deserves his success and his wealth. But I also think — after eight years of marriage and six kids (five surviving) — that I am entitled to a fair settlement, which does include a small piece of “community” property (other than the house, which is mine, and it is a lovely house, and I am so stupidly privileged that it’s ridiculous, and this whole thing is surreal). My ex-husband and I remain in serious disagreement as to what “fair” is, and we also remain in serious disagreement about certain issues surrounding the postnup.

Slip Opinion for Ansin v. Craven-Ansin Postnuptial Agreement

MARSHALL, C.J. We granted direct appellate review in this divorce proceeding to determine whether so-called “postnuptial” or “marital” agreements are contrary to public policy and, if not, whether the marital agreement at issue is enforceable.(1) The dispute is between Kenneth S. Ansin (husband) and Cheryl A. Craven-Ansin (wife) concerning the validity of their 2004 written agreement “settling all rights and obligations arising from their marital relationship” in the event of a divorce. Two years after the agreement was executed, in November, 2006, the husband filed a complaint for divorce, and sought to enforce the terms of the agreement. At the time of the complaint, the parties had been married for twenty-one years and had two sons.

Burkle v. Burkle Postnuptial Agreement – Legal Brief from the Husband’s Attorneys

Eight years ago, appellant Janet Burkle (“Jan”) and her husband Ronald Burkle (“Ron”)-a wealthy and successful couple-decided to give their broken marriage another try. In aid of their reconciliation attempt, they decided to enter into a postmarital agreement designed to iron out sources ofmarital friction relating to their differing financial objectives. Jan wanted the financial status quo. She wanted to preserve the extremely affluent lifestyle that Ron’s previously successful, but risky, investments had produced. She did not want future investments to jeopardize the wealth already accumulated. Ron, on the other hand, wanted to continue investing aggressively in high-risk ventures. The agreement, negotiated over a period of months, harmonized Jan’s and Ron’s respective objectives to the then-satisfaction of each.

ALI Case Study: A Postmarital Agreement

In this case study, Eugene tells Dolores that, if she does not sign this agreement, he will seek an immediate divorce, because he does not feel he can go forward with BugFree’s development and marketing if he does not retain sole ownership of it. Dolores is stunned to learn that Eugene is considering divorce and at a loss to imagine how she would live and care properly for the children if divorce were to occur. She strongly believes her children’s welfeare would be seriously compromised were she to return full time to work, yet does not see how she and the children could maintain their accustomed life on compensatory payments and child support alone. As the manager of the couple’s household finances, she knows that their current assets are modest. She is also fearful of the impact that divorce and the accompanying disruption would have on the childre. She is not certain whether Eugene’s threat is serious but feels she cannot take the risk. Unhappily and reluctantly, she signs the agreement.

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