Can I Demand a Prenuptial Agreement in DuPage County?

 Posted on March 14, 2024 in Prenuptial Agreements

In most cases, yes, you can refuse to get married unless your fiance or fiancee agrees to sign a prenuptial agreement. However, you will need to be careful to avoid later accusations of coercion, which can cause your agreement to be deemed invalid. While it is wise to not get married without a prenuptial agreement, it is important to speak with a knowledgeable Naperville, IL, prenuptial agreements attorney to ensure that your prenuptial agreement can be enforced later should you get divorced. Mistakes made in the process of creating such a contract can mean that your agreement will not be held up in court later, so it is important to take the right steps when asking the person you are going to marry to commit to an agreement before marriage.

How to Approach Requiring a Prenuptial Agreement Before Marriage

Some tips for creating an enforceable prenuptial agreement include:

• Do not wait until the eve of the wedding - It is best to talk about and create your prenuptial agreement as soon as possible after getting engaged. If you wait until just before the wedding, when your spouse-to-be has already spent a lot of money planning the event, guests have bought their plane tickets, and calling off the marriage would put your partner in a very difficult position, the court may later find that there was an element in coercion. 
• Do not dictate the terms - If you approach your spouse with an agreement your attorney has already drafted and demand that they sign it or else you will leave them, the court may also consider this coercive or find that your spouse did not have an opportunity to negotiate the terms or find representation. This is especially true if your fiance or fiancee is dependent on you, financially or otherwise. Creating the prenuptial agreement should be a collaborative effort. 
• Have both parties represented - Both you and your future spouse should have your own attorneys. If your spouse was represented by counsel during the drafting and signing process, it will be very difficult for them to later claim the agreement was drastically unfair or they were coerced into signing it. 
• Keep the terms reasonable - Courts will rarely enforce prenuptial agreements that are drastically unfair to one party, especially if that party would be left without a means of meeting his/her basic needs were the order enforced. Do not try to create an agreement that would leave your spouse with nothing if you got divorced. 

While you certainly do not have to marry anyone without a prenuptial agreement, creating an agreement and making this request in the right way is essential.

Contact a Naperville, IL Prenuptial Agreements Attorney

Calabrese Associates, P.C. is skilled in helping engaged couples negotiate to create the right prenuptial agreement through honest and ethical representation. Our dedicated DuPage County, IL prenuptial agreement lawyers will work with you and your spouse to help you sign a fair and enforceable contract. Contact us at 630-393-3111 for a confidential consultation.