Katy, Texas Prenuptial Agreement Lawyer

Lawyer Serving Fort Bend County Explains Postnuptial Marital Property Agreements

When two people with diverse family and financial situations decide to marry, each may have concerns that they are uncomfortable raising with the other. For example, one person may have a high income, significant assets, and no dependents while the other has a lower income, few assets, and two children from a prior marriage. They are not entering the marriage on equal footing, and they may not have even discussed it.

The process of creating a premarital, or prenuptial, agreement can serve as a way to surface and bridge a couple's financial differences and concerns. If you are already married, you can develop a postnuptial agreement, referred to in Texas law as a post marital agreement or a partition and exchange agreement.

At The Foray Firm, we understand that it can be uncomfortable to talk about money even with your fiancé or spouse. Nonetheless, we believe that both partners in a marriage should have full knowledge of their financial assets and obligations.

As family law attorneys with more than a decade of experience, we are well equipped to facilitate a frank discussion about your respective financial concerns and to show you ways to address those concerns so that they do not become divisive issues in your marriage. You can rely on us to draft a legally sound agreement tailored to your particular circumstances.

Texas Law on Separate vs. Community Property Rights

In order to understand why you might want a premarital or marital property agreement, it helps to have a basic understanding of Texas property law.

Texas law generally states that assets acquired before marriage remain the separate property of each spouse, while assets acquired during marriage—including income, pension benefits, and retirement savings--are community property jointly owned by the spouses. Separate property is treated differently than community property for the purposes of debt repayment, inheritance, and division of property upon divorce.

One of the most important reasons to create a prenuptial agreement is to document each party's separate assets prior to the marriage and to specify which, if any, assets acquired during marriage will become community property. Plans to handle premarital and marital debts can also be covered.

The Rising Need for Premarital and Marital Agreements

Many people question the need for a prenup because their parents did not have one, but times have changed. The average age of first marriages has risen, meaning that people generally come to a marriage with more assets than they did in previous generations. In addition, it has become much more common for people to have children prior to marriage and to have second and third marriages. These complications create a greater need for premarital and marital property agreements.

Benefits of a Premarital or Marital Property Agreement

The Foray Firm Houston can help you create a premarital or marital property agreement to address situations like these:

• You have significant premarital assets and want to ensure that they are clearly documented as your separate property.
• Your spouse has accrued significant debts and you want to avoid liability for them.
• You own a business or professional practice and want to ensure that you retain 100 percent ownership of it.
• You are significantly older than your spouse and want to protect your retirement benefits from becoming community property.
• You have children from a prior marriage, and you want to protect certain assets for their benefit and inheritance.
• You anticipate being a full-time parent. Sacrificing your career growth and income potential will make it harder for you to support yourself in the event of a divorce. Texas law is relatively stingy when it comes to spousal maintenance, so you may want to protect yourself by having more generous terms of spousal maintenance written into your premarital or marital property agreement.

Fort Bend County Prenuptial and Marital Property Agreement Lawyers

The attorneys of The Foray Firm are dedicated to providing reliable legal representation to families of all races, ethnicities, and genders. Contact us in our Houston, TX office at 832-919-6400. We serve clients throughout Houston, Harris County, Waller County, and Fort Bend County, including the communities of Fulshear, Katy, Richmond, and Sugar Land.