Today, we are going to speak about prenuptial agreements when it comes to divorce in West Virginia. What are prenuptial agreements really? Prenuptial agreements are simply agreements that are entered into prior to the people getting married that outlines what’s supposed to happen in the event that they divorce. It can cover things such as spousal support, property division and some things that are related to West Virginia estates can also be covered. An example, there is sometimes something about what’s going to happen if somebody dies, whether somebody would waive an elective share under West Virginia law. For example, if you die and even if your spouse is totally not in the will at all, they generally have a right to claim what’s an elective share, which is basically as time goes on they can claim more and more of your estate.
Does My Ex Always Have a Right To My Estate and Elective Shares?
If you are not wanting to have your ex have any rights to your elective shares, then you can choose to add language into a prenuptial agreement that relates to totally excluding the ex from an elective share. There are certain things that can certainly be included and you can technically put in whatever you want into a prenuptial agreement. The issue becomes what parts of the added language the West Virginia court is going to enforce and what parts a court is not going to enforce. Generally a court is not necessarily going to uphold any kind of agreement when it comes to child support or child custody. The court is going to do its own analysis, asked you what’s going to happen with the children in the event you do get divorced and part ways.
What are some things that the court would most likely seem valid?
Things that clearly would be considered in a valid prenuptial agreement would include things such as spousal support, how property is going to be divided and things of that sort. It’s really important that you look at the prenuptial agreement if you’re going through a divorce and see what it covers and see what it doesn’t cover. One of the things that you always need to keep to keep in mind whenever you’re going through a divorce and you have a prenuptial agreement is what the specific language was when you were actually putting the agreement together. Another issue that sometimes comes up is whether a prenuptial agreement is even valid. As a general rule of thumb in West Virginia, it’s very difficult to override or invalidate a prenuptial agreement. There are certain ways to potentially fight it. For example, if both people did not have an attorney participate in some way in the drafting and creation of the prenuptial agreement, that’s a way that you can possibly fight it. If you have a legitimate claim that you were on some sort of medication that interfered with your ability to understand the prenuptial agreement, that could be a potential way to invalidate it. But as a general rule, it’s an uphill battle if you want to invalidate a prenuptial agreement. It’s very hard. These are some basic things about prenuptial agreements in West Virginia divorce that I wanted to go over with you.
Is There More To a Prenuptial Agreement?
There’s a lot more to it, but I just wanted to give you some basics. An easy way to look at a prenuptial agreement is to think of it as essentially an agreement that serves in the role of a property settlement agreement. That’s going to outline to the court what the two of you wanted at the time that you got married. Just so you know, as for the most part, a court’s going to uphold the property settlement agreement.
