MARITAL AGREEMENTS

Marital agreements are agreements made between two people, either planning to get married or already married, which fix terms/issues in advance, should the parties later get divorced.  Marital agreements made prior to getting married are typically referred to as PREMARITAL AGREEMENTS (also called PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENTS).  Marital agreements made after the parties are already married are referred to as MARITAL AGREEMENTS or POSTNUPTIAL AGREEMENTS.

Premarital/prenuptial agreements in Hawaii are authorized under the Hawaii Uniform Premarital Agreement Act ("HUPAA" -- H.R.S. section 572D).  Premarital agreements can be created to do a number of different things, depending on the desires of the marrying parties.  Some examples are:

• ensuring that the parties' premarital property remains their own sole property in case of a divorce;
  
• protecting a family property that one party wants to keep in his/her family;
  
• allowing them to continue to acquire/earn separate property, even after marriage; and
  
• limiting or eliminating alimony to the other party in a divorce, except in extreme cases.
  

Contrary to what many think, premarital agreements are not just contracts to "shut out" a fiancee/fiance, but can also be tools so that a marrying couple can determine how they want their finances to be handled in the event of a divorce.  This can allow couples to enter into marriage without worrying about worst-case divorce scenarios.If you would like to discuss what can and cannot be placed in a premarital agreement, please give us a call.  Before meeting with one of us, it is often helpful to fill out our Premarital Agreement Questionnaire, in Adobe Acrobat (R) format, which you can download below:

Premarital Agreement Questionnaire

Like premarital agreements, postmarital agreements can be tailored according to what each couple seeks.  Commonly, these are used as "pre-divorce" agreements or separation, setting forth what the terms of the divorce will be, when and if the parties later divorce.