A properly designed premarital or postmarital agreement can accomplish a great deal to protect specific property interests, specify arrangements for spousal support, and avoid confusion as to the assets that could make up part of the community estate in divorce.
If you need advice about the negotiation, documentation, revision or enforcement of a prenuptial or post-nuptial agreement, contact the family law firm of McCurley Orsinger McCurley Nelson & Downing L.L.P. With offices in Dallas and San Antonio, we are one of the largest firms in Texas that concentrates in family law. Our experienced attorneys can guide you through all aspects of premarital or postmarital planning and documentation to help reduce the uncertainties of subsequent divorce litigation or even death-related disputes.
Understanding the Function of Premarital Agreements
Premarital agreements are most often used in situations when one or both people about to marry wish to keep the parties' separate estates distinct from the community estate. We have seen cases where the parents of a younger person insisted on a prenuptial agreement as a condition of their support for the union. We have seen cases where an older parent is encouraged by children from a prior marriage to sign a premarital agreement before entering into a second marriage. More commonly, parties who have been through divorce have learned just how much a premarital agreement could have saved them from problems in a previous divorce.
To stand up in court, a premarital agreement must meet certain standards. While a premarital agreement gives the parties a great deal of latitude to vary the operation of Texas family law with respect to property or alimony issues, it cannot affect the child support obligations that would otherwise apply.
As well as advising clients about agreements prior to marriage, the lawyers of McCurley Orsinger can also draft or review property agreements made during marriage. Married individuals can partition community property into separate property, convert separate property into community property and create rights of survivorship in community property.
Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio Community Property Partition Attorneys
Our attorneys also advise clients about partition agreements. These agreements re-characterize community assets as separate property. Such a re-characterization of property has an important impact on divorce, death and on creditors' claims.
For more information about our law firm's ability to advise and represent you effectively about contractual approaches to family law property rights problems, contact the Texas premarital agreement lawyers of the McCurley Orsinger firm in Dallas or San Antonio.
(See our article on Texas premarital agreements: Did Your Client Get Hitched Without a Hitch?)
