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What are the requirements for a Minnesota postnuptial agreement?

On Behalf of | Sep 25, 2015 | Firm News |

Minnesota residents are familiar with the basic premise of a prenuptial agreement. However, they may not be aware that Minnesota state law also allows a married couple to draw up a postnuptial agreement once they are married. But do the requirements of a postnuptial agreement differ from a prenuptial agreement? And, more specifically, what are some of these requirements?

Minnesota law states that a postnuptial agreement must conform to the same conditions of a prenuptial agreement in the state. One of these conditions is that each party must have their own legal representative. This means that at the time the agreement will be signed, each spouse has had the chance to have their own attorney review the document.

Another condition for the postnuptial agreement is that both spouses cannot file for either a divorce or a separation for the first two years after signing the document. If one of the spouses does file one of these motions, then the postnuptial agreement is rendered invalid. This condition was probably included by state representatives in order to prevent a spouse from planning to divorce in secret.

Postnuptial agreements are also forbidden from including certain specific topics. These topics include visitation rights, child custody and child support. The reasons that these topics cannot be included are that courts will not honor an agreement that can potentially harm a child.

Any divorce can be both financially and emotionally exhausting if the proper documents are not in place when a couple gets married. Therefore, any Minnesota resident who is planning to get married or divorced may want to speak with a divorce attorney in order to fully understand their situation.

Source: corporate.findlaw.com, “Premarital and postmarital agreements in Minnesota,” accessed Sep. 20, 2015