Addressing deception in your prenuptial agreement

On Behalf of | Feb 3, 2021 | High-asset Divorce |

A prenuptial agreement might look advantageous one minute, then utterly unfair the next. This is no small thing given that the terms of a prenuptial agreement can affect you for years, maybe even decades, to come. If you find yourself feeling cheated by your prenuptial agreement, then you might be beating yourself up for signing it in the first place. Try not to do that. Instead, focus your energy on determining if there’s a way for you to break free from the agreement.

Deception in your prenuptial agreement

Like any other contract, prenuptial agreements are supposed to be based on honesty and transparency. This means that both parties should make full financial disclosures. This includes incomes, assets, and debts. In fact, most people who enter into a prenuptial agreement do so based on this information. Therefore, if this information is false or misleading, then you might be able to have your prenuptial agreement invalidated, meaning that you won’t be bound by its terms.

But how do you go about proving deception? There are a few tactics that you can utilize. One of them is conducting a forensic accounting. Here, a financial expert digs into your spouse’s financial transactions to see if assets were hidden. While this strategy is often used to identify assets that should be subjected to property division, it might also help you show that there was something less than full disclosure when negotiating a prenuptial agreement. You can also put in some legwork of your own by keeping tabs on bills and any other outstanding debts that you might not have been aware of at the time of signing your prenuptial agreement.

Know how best to challenge your prenuptial agreement

Proving deception is just one option that you might have when it comes to challenging your prenuptial agreement. To learn the best course of action for you under your unique set of circumstances, though, you might want to discuss your case with an attorney who accustomed to handling high-asset divorces.