A marriage is a legally-binding contract containing obligations and responsibilities for each spouse. Although many couples do not anticipate an end to their wedding, divorce, separation, or death may strike without notice. Prenuptial contracts come in handy when such unfortunate incidences occur. Therefore, enlightened future spouses will sign up for a prenup to help in property division if they divorce. Here, we highlight how prenuptial contracts in Wisconsin work.
A prenup is a formal document that enshrines how spouses will divide their property, assets, and debts if their marriage ends. A prenup covers every asset, including real estate, buildings, automobiles, jewelry, retirement benefits, clothing, and shares.
Wisconsin is a community marital property state, hence, many couples split their assets on a 50/50 basis in a divorce. But when you have a prenup, you can break off the 50/50 rule and have a fair distribution of marital and separate property. The courts will not assume that every asset you acquired during a marriage is joint property. You need to draft a written agreement and have it signed by you and your spouse. Although you will determine the content of the document, you may require a qualified family attorney to help you craft the legal language of the contract. An attorney also comes in handy if the court later verifies if you had legal representation when signing the contract. Unlike in other states, Wisconsin doesn’t require you to support your agreement by consideration. Essentially, consideration means any valuable item that you offer your future spouse to show support for the premarital contract. Most importantly, when signing a prenuptial agreement, you should be contemplating marriage as the law requires. Marriage should be the driving factor, and the contract is not effective without it.
A prenup includes everything regarding your property and finances. Whether you have individual or joint property, you can include them in your legal arrangement.
Broadly, prenups in Wisconsin include the following:
Yes. It is possible to change the terms in a prenuptial agreement. However, you must collectively agree to the changes and put them in writing. In addition, you should sign the new document to add to its validity in court.
Are you looking for a prenup template? We have a free downloadable Wisconsin prenup form on our website.