Most people have heard of the prenuptial agreement. This is a contract that people sign during their engagement that outlines expectations for the marriage and also explains how the couple intends to split up their assets, debts and parenting time of shared children in the event of a divorce.
If you are already married but experiencing some kind of hardship in your relationship, a postnuptial agreement could benefit you and your spouse. Creating a postnuptial agreement requires that you sit down and talk about what you need from the marriage and set terms to make arrangements to keep the divorce amicable and affordable.
How postnuptial agreements can strengthen your marriage
When your relationship began, you will likely experience intense infatuation and may not really understand the realities of living with your future spouse. Now that you have had time to get to know one another, it will be easier for you to recognize the shortcomings in your relationship that have made it more difficult. In fact, issues like addiction or cheating could have you on the verge of filing for divorce.
You can potentially use a postnuptial agreement to address these issues, possibly setting yourselves up for a more peaceful and positive marriage in the future. Requiring positive communication, committing to therapy or promising to avoid infidelity, alcohol or drugs are all common inclusions in postnuptial agreements that stem from marital conflict. You can even assign penalties to the violation of these terms to help motivate everyone to comply to the best of their ability.
Talking through the issues and the impact they’ve had on your life could help you to reconnect and start to better fulfill one another’s needs.
Postnuptial agreements lead to faster, uncontested divorces
When you set terms for how to separate your financial life from that of your spouse, you theoretically set the stage for an uncontested divorce. If your relationship does not improve, both of you may agree that it is time to seek a divorce.
As long as neither of you wants to challenge the terms or the validity of the documents, you can potentially have a faster and therefore cheaper divorce by filing for an uncontested divorce.
