Seattle Prenuptial Agreement Lawyers

Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements serve as a specialized form of a marriage contract to safeguard the individual legal rights and financial interests of spouses before, during, and after marriage. The protections in these premarital agreements can cover separate property, marital assets, debt allocation, and contact with children in the relationship. The Seattle divorce and family lawyers at S.L. Pitts PC have built a decades-long reputation for positive results in Washington family law cases when representing parties across King County and the Puget Sound region in matters related to prenuptial agreements in Washington State.

Washington Courts Disfavor Prenuptial Agreements

The Washington State Legislature has declined to enact any statutory laws (such as the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act) allowing people to affirmatively alter their marital rights and duties through a contract. In that void, the courts have, through a series of case law precedents, outlined a legal framework for analyzing prenuptial agreements in Washington State. That analysis is detailed below, but the long and the short of it is that Washington Courts disfavor prenuptial agreements, commonly known as “prenups,” and will often refuse to enforce them.

The court’s primary concerns with prenups are that they are often entered into hastily, that the financially disadvantaged spouse does not fully comprehend the legal rights they are waiving, and that the financially disadvantaged spouse only signs it because they are forced to do so. Inequities resulting from the stereotypical (and increasingly anachronistic and patronizing) image of a sophisticated, wealthy spouse taking advantage of a naive, financially dependent partner are precisely what courts are keen to prevent.

Two-Prong Test for Evaluating Prenups

Courts have put forth a strict two-prong test for evaluating prenups in Washington State under community property standards. First, the court looks at whether the prenup is substantively “fair,” meaning “what a court would do under Washington divorce law had no prenup been executed.” Bear in mind that the whole point of most prenups is to deviate from what a court would do, so most prenuptial agreements fail the first prong of this test. Nonetheless, some prenups are deemed fair and, if so, then the court’s analysis stops and the prenup will be upheld.

However, even if the prenup is deemed unfair, it may still be upheld if it was entered into “knowingly and voluntarily,” which is the second prong of the test. As long as both spouses understand the statutory marital rights they are altering or giving up, and as long as they are not put under any undue pressure to sign, then the court will uphold the prenup. Practically speaking, entering into a prenup knowingly and voluntarily in a Seattle family court means the following:

1. Each party must have their own independent family law attorney;
2. The parties must conduct (and document) active negotiations to show that the agreement is truly bargained for and not simply forced onto a powerless spouse;
3. Both parties must offer full financial disclosure of all assets, debts, business interests, and income; and
4. They must execute the prenup well in advance of the marriage itself to ensure that neither party feels pressured to sign out of fear that the impending marriage will be cancelled.

If you follow all four steps, then the court may uphold the prenup. But then again, maybe the court won’t.

If this all sounds a little squishy and nebulous, that is because it is. Basically, if your assigned King County judge does not like your prenup for whatever reason, they can very easily find a way to throw it out. There are things you can do to make that outcome less likely (avoid an overtly one-sided prenup and reaffirm the agreement via a postnuptial contract after the wedding, for example), but at the end of the day, the judge will have relatively unfettered discretion when it comes to upholding your prenup.

Why Creating a Prenup is Still a Worthwhile Exercise

Despite the problems with enforcing prenups in Washington State, and the costs associated with prenups, creating one is actually still a good asset protection idea. Negotiating a prenuptial agreement forces couples to have conversations about money before they get married and before they are presented with the very real, very difficult financial issues that married couples invariably face in Seattle’s high-cost living environment. Having a common understanding about money issues and separate vs. community property before problems arise greatly increases a couple’s ability to address financial issues in a healthy way that reduces marital conflict.

The unfortunate reality is that the vast majority of couples never talk about what their finances will look like after they get married. Couples often fail to address even the most basic financial questions prior to marriage. The result is that shortly after getting married, couples start bumping into the fact that they do not automatically agree on money issues, and that causes a lot of stress on the marriage.

For instance, will both spouses work? Will their incomes be shared in joint bank accounts or will each have a separate account? How will housing expenses or local real estate investments be allocated? A 50/50 split sounds fair, but if one spouse makes a lot more money than the other, is it really fair to split all the bills 50/50? How is that 50/50 split going to work when one spouse wants to go to an expensive restaurant and the other cannot afford “their half” of the bill? The person with more money may feel annoyed that their spouse cannot “keep up” with the lifestyle they want to lead; they will increasingly “cover the bill” and start to feel resentful and taken advantage of. The person with less money will feel increasingly embarrassed and uncomfortable that they cannot “keep up” with their partner’s lifestyle. They will spend a much larger portion of their disposable income and so will not be able to save for retirement. They will begin to feel like they have far less control in the relationship (which is an accurate feeling). Increasingly, they will resent the fact that despite being equals in a marriage, there is an ever-growing financial inequality between them and their partner.

And those are the easy money questions; they get harder when you add children into the equation. Our Seattle family attorneys have handled numerous cases where the parties had similar incomes, kept their finances separate, and, without ever really talking about it, ended up in a scenario where all the children’s expenses were somehow assigned to the mom (probably because she did all the shopping for the children). Invariably, the moms got very resentful that their partners failed to contribute more to the children’s expenses. Dads, for their part, may feel resentful at being asked to contribute to costs over which they have little input or control. And voila! This growing frustration and the ensuing argument is one the couple then gets to revisit on a monthly or quarterly basis for years until they either resign themselves to being unhappy (an all too common definition of a “successful marriage”) or one of them decides to file for divorce.

Executing a Prenup Will Force You to Have Uncomfortable, but Crucial, Financial Discussions

If you get married, difficult financial questions and challenges will arise. Granted, you do not need a prenup in order to address them. But the process of executing a prenup will ensure that a lot of these questions will be discussed, and that is why we still recommend them. Most people are uncomfortable talking about financial issues with their partner, so having your prenuptial agreement lawyers force you to talk about them can be helpful. Frankly, it is a lot easier to talk about these issues before everyone starts feeling resentful. And talking about these in advance can go a long way toward avoiding the resentment altogether. Not only will you enter the marriage with a more aligned view of your shared financial future, you will also have established a framework for how to communicate in a healthy way about the financial issues that will inevitably arise.

People often criticize prenups as being for couples who are not committed to marriage or who already have one foot out the door. But the reality is that prenuptial agreements, and the conversations they engender, actually increase the likelihood that a marriage will be better and last longer. Therein lies their value.

S.L. Pitts Can Help You Create or Evaluate a Prenuptial Agreement

Our Seattle family lawyers have decades of experience crafting and evaluating premarital agreements and postnuptial contracts across Washington State. The firm can provide legal expertise and knowledge to assist with developing a premarital agreement that protects your assets, business holdings, and personal interests. The firm is also skilled at evaluating the interpretation and enforceability of prior agreements during the separation or marital dissolution process in a way that preserves the best interests of our clients. If you have questions about creating, drafting, or evaluating prenuptial agreements in Washington State, contact the Seattle family law attorneys at S.L. Pitts PC today.