Avoid putting invalid provisions in your prenuptial agreement

As you may already be aware, crafting a prenuptial agreement prior to getting married can provide you and your partner with myriad benefits and protections. And even if the marriage does not work out, the time invested in creating a prenup will be more than made up by the savings of both time and money when going through the divorce process.

But if you are going to go to all the effort necessary to write out a prenup, you want to make sure that it will be considered valid when it comes time to use it to resolve issues. And just as there are many things that you can include in your agreement, there are also items that cannot be contained in a legally binding prenup.

For example, the courts will typically not accept provisions pertaining to child support. The courts have their own formulas for determining child support, and the amount will likely be contingent upon your financial circumstances at the time of a divorce. So, avoid including stipulations stating who will be responsible for paying how much child support to whom.

Family court judges base all of their decisions on the best interests of the child, which is applied not only to child support issues but child custody issues as well. Therefore, your prenup should not contain custody provisions either.

Regarding prenuptial agreements, child custody and child support provisions are just two things that will likely not be honored by a court. There are other specific items that are also off limits. This is why it is a good idea to sit down with a family law attorney to discuss the contents of your prenup. The attorney can help make sure that your agreement will stand up to legal scrutiny should you ever need it for dispute resolution purposes.