A prenuptial agreement is a signed legal contract between engaged couples that becomes enforceable once they marry. The plan and protections in a prenup take effect after a triggering event—a divorce or death. A well-drafted prenuptial agreement offers substantial protections in case of a divorce or death, but what does it take for a prenup to be enforceable in court, and is this something that the engaged couples can create themselves without the help of attorneys? Contact our Denver prenup lawyers at for a free consultation today.
A prenup puts a structure in place for the protection of the spouses’ separate assets such as property, investments, businesses, and valuables owned by each spouse before the marriage, and provisions for the division of the marital assets they’ll accumulate during the marriage.
Typical marital assets subject to division include joint real estate property, bank and investment accounts, retirement accounts, and valuables. A well-executed prenuptial agreement helps to avoid contested divorces so spouses may not require an adversarial divorce trial unless the divorce involves a child custody dispute. Prenups cannot set terms for child custody.
Colorado law allows for DIY prenuptial agreements, but it’s important to understand the potential pitfalls. A prenuptial agreement is only beneficial if it’s legally enforceable. If the document fails to uphold every legal requirement for validity, it isn’t legally sound, leaving it open to dispute by a spouse during a divorce. A court may not enforce an unsound DIY prenuptial agreement. Our divorce attorneys in Denver can help with this.
Online instructions for drafting a prenuptial agreement are not always state-specific and leave room for many errors for those attempting to create their own legal contract. Common mistakes in DIY prenups include the following:
The most common motive for choosing a do-it-yourself prenuptial agreement is to save the cost of hiring attorneys. Most attorney-created prenuptial agreements involve two attorneys, one for each spouse. If one spouse chooses not to hire an attorney, they must sign a waiver stating that they agreed to sign the prenuptial agreement without the benefit of legal counsel. A DIY prenup must include a waiver signed by both spouses.
In the end, an improperly executed or incomplete DIY prenuptial agreement often costs the spouses more in legal fees for disputes caused by errors, imprecise language, or omitted provisions than they would have paid for attorneys.
If you are considering creating a DIY prenuptial agreement, call Ciancio Ciancio Brown, P.C. to learn more about the potential pitfalls of declining professional representation. If you’ve already drafted your DIY prenup, call Ciancio Ciancio Brown, P.C. to evaluate the enforceability of your contract.
