Before getting married, couples will often draw up a prenuptial agreement. These generally outline how assets should be handled in a potential divorce. After they are married, couples may get a postnuptial agreement, which can address the same matters.
One important thing to remember about prenups and postnups is that they should not address child custody rights. Such clauses would not be valid. The same is true of child support.
Instead, the focus should be on asset division issues, such as how income, family businesses, real estate or tangible assets would be divided. It may also address spousal support. Child-related issues, on the other hand, need to be addressed during the divorce itself.
The child’s best interests
The goal of a child custody proceeding is to focus on the child’s best interests. Prenups and postnups cannot be used to do this because they would give parents the ability to make these decisions for their child in advance (and maybe before a child is even born).
For example, in most cases, courts determine that it is in a child’s best interests to have a relationship with both parents. There are exceptions for domestic violence or abuse, of course. However, courts will typically seek shared custody instead of assigning sole custody rights.
As such, if parents signed an agreement giving sole custody to one parent or the other, that could actually be seen as harmful to the children. The document would be thrown out and a different child custody decision would be made.
This does not mean that these marital agreements are not useful. However, parents need to know how they can be used and what issues they are actually allowed to address. If there are any disputes during a divorce or a child custody case, it is critical that parents understand all of their legal options.