San Francisco, CA December 11, 2009 — As the media continue to unpeel layers of the scandal embroiling Tiger Woods and his wife, Elin Nordegren, an important and often overlooked legal transaction, the post-nuptial agreement, may gain traction because some news reports detail a renegotiation of marital assets ostensibly to persuade Nordegren to remain in the marriage.
While these cases are rarer, they do come up, says Ken LaMance, Corporate Counsel for LegalMatch, an online service that connects consumers with qualified attorneys. Most times, it involves one spouse after marriage suddenly coming into a lot of money (inheritance, lottery, etc), a change in life circumstances, such as the birth of a child, death of a relative, or just the passage of time--a prenuptial agreement was in place, but after five or ten years of marriage, the couple want it modified to be more generous to the poorer spouse.
According to a report by CNN, the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers report an increase in the use of post-nuptial agreements; however, many couples remain unaware of this option. LegalMatch provides comprehensive information about post-nuptial agreements, and has a dedicated category in its Family Law section for consumers seeking help.
Post-nuptial agreements provide protection of a spouse's separate property; protection from the other spouse’s debt; and determine the level of support (alimony) owed to a spouse in the event of divorce and death.
Post-nuptial agreements are generally enforceable. Although the laws regulating post-nuptials vary from state to state, common rules are:
LegalMatch (www.LegalMatch.com) is an online legal matching service that makes it easy to find a lawyer. Headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Los Angeles and Austin, LegalMatch helps attorneys nationwide build and grow their law practice. LegalMatch pioneered the online legal matching industry in 1999; the service is free to consumers and available in all fifty states. For more information on LegalMatch, contact Chris Russell-Karazin at (951) 203-1313.