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Contact an experienced marital property
agreements attorney at The Guerra Law Firm to answer all your questions about
prenuptial and postnuptial property agreements. We can prepare the right
marital property agreement to protect you, regardless of how simple or
complicated your estate.
Since Texas is a community property state,
there is a presumption that everything a husband and wife might own is community
property and belongs to them both. However, parties to a marriage
relationship have the right to remove this community property presumption by
signing a contractual property agreement. If properly prepared and
executed, these agreements are normally upheld and will govern the disposition
of your property in the event of a divorce, separation, lawsuit by creditors,
and even death. An experienced family law attorney at The Guerra Law Firm can
give you candid advice and help you determine if a marital property agreement is
right for you.
Prenuptial Agreements
and partition agreements
A marital property agreement entered into
before the parties get married is called a "prenuptial agreement". A marital
property agreement entered into after the parties are already married is called
a "partition and exchange agreement." In many circumstances, these
agreements help preserve and protect your estates, reduce future litigation and
expense, and can be beneficial for both parties. However, both of these
types of agreements have significant legal impact and should be reviewed
carefully by your attorney. Both of these types agreements require complete
disclosure of information and have rigid statutory requirements to ensure that
the parties fully understand the legal effect of signing the agreement.
Marital property agreements allow the
parties to a marriage to define for today and for the future what will be
community property and what will be separate property. Marital property
agreements have been given a bad rep. Although these agreements can affect
the parties rights and duties in the event of divorce, most often they are not
prepared with divorce in mind. Moreover, the existence of a marital
property agreement should not be considered as a lack of confidence that the
marriage will succeed. These prenup and postnup agreements are very useful
for people who want to segregate assets for children from a prior relationship,
thus simplifying estate planning issues. These agreements can also be used
to protect one spouse from debts or obligations of another spouse, and are
especially useful when one or both of the spouses has started a business, has a
significant tax obligation, or has an interest in a closely held family
business.
agreement incident to divorce
A property agreement entered into when the
parties are separated and contemplating divorce is called an "agreement incident
to divorce." Texas does not recognize a "legal separation" that
may be available in other States. The only way to properly protect your
property rights when you are separated from your spouse is to file for divorce.
When the parties have a large estate, your family lawyer may recommend preparing
an agreement incident to divorce to fully set out the details of your marital
property agreement. However, this type of marital property agreement will
only be enforceable if the divorce judge approves it in the final divorce
decree. If it is not referenced as part of the court order, it is not
enforceable and it may be revoked.
If you are separated from your spouse and
do not wish to go forward with a divorce at this time (due to financial,
insurance, or extended family concerns), you should discuss your marital
property rights and responsibilities with an experienced family law attorney to
see if it is more appropriate for you and your spouse to sign a partition and
exchange agreement.
COHABITATION AGREEMENTS
Although Texas property laws do not
include a specific provision for cohabitation agreements, an experienced family
law attorney can help you prepare a contract to help avoid conflict about the
ownership of property you may purchase jointly with a cohabitation partner.
General contract law and/or Texas partnership laws would apply to this type of
separate property agreement.
Contact a Texas marital property agreement lawyer at
The Guerra Law Firm to learn what type of property agreement is right for you.
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