Prenuptial/Marital Agreements

We help clients who are marrying or who are already married to organize their estate plans with marital agreements. Most marital agreements are executed during the marriage (post-nuptial) but many are signed before the couple marries (prenuptial).

We prepare both prenuptial marital agreements and post-nuptial marital agreements. For Wisconsin married couples, marital property agreements are typically an integral part of the estate planning process. The marital property agreement typically defines a number of specific issues between the couple. Some of these issues include:

• Who owns which assets, regardless of Wisconsin law
• Who owes which liabilities, regardless of Wisconsin law
• How the estate is divided upon the death of one of the spouses
• How the couple will file their tax returns
• Whether to avoid probate

For prenuptial agreements, many of the same considerations apply, except that greater emphasis typically is placed on the division of the estate in the event of divorce and inheritance rights of each spouse in the event of the other spouse's death. Many times the prenuptial agreement also clarifies whether maintenance or alimony will be paid by one spouse to the other spouse in the event of divorce.