Pre and postmarital agreements are becoming more and more popular as the divorce rate at nearly 50% finds many persons having experienced a difficult divorce, especially in terms of the division of marital assets and liabilities. Then, those people who have divorced find a new love and hope to enter into a happily ever after. However, the reality of a marriage gone on the rocks and a difficult divorce encourage the couple to make a premarital agreement. If the premarital and sometimes later after the marriage, the postmarital agreement is created correctly, there can be a lot less heartache as it will have been predecided which party will retain certain eligible assets and liabilities. The couple could decide themselves at mediation and draw a marital agreement without going to court. However, many couples cannot come to a resolution at mediation, so the divorce case goes to court, and a judge decides how marital assets and liabilities are divided. A judge tries to be fair in equitable distribution states but sometimes doesn’t understand the emotional attachment to such assets as the family pet, special pictures, or a vacation cottage. (Note: Only the states of Nevada, New Mexico, Idaho, Arizona, Louisiana, California, Texas, Wisconsin, and Washington still use equal distribution. In Alaska, a couple can choose their method of division.)

While a couple can create their own pre or postmarital agreement Family Law Attorney Grant Gisondo recommends each party use a family law professional to help draw up the document and ensure all the state guidelines will be followed to allow the court’s acceptance. Here is a brief list of what pre or postmarital agreement must be like:
• A written document is the only acceptable form
• There must be two witnesses at the signing
• The document must be notarized
• Neither party can be coerced into signing
• Legal counsel must be of the same caliber for each party
• If either party does not speak, read, or write English, there must be an interpreter at the signing and enough time allowed for the document to be read in the language of the needful party and a time to ask questions.
• Both parties must submit an in-depth financial disclosure. If any information is withheld or lied about and it is proven so, at a later date, the document will be considered null and void.

Attorney Gisondo has been successfully helping draw-up pre and postmarital agreements for over a decade. Recently Attorney Gisondo became Florida Board Certified in Marital and Family Law, so he is considered an expert in family law concerns such as pre and postmarital agreements. If you live in Palm Beach, Martin, St.Lucie, Miami-Dade, Broward, Orange, or Hillsborough County in Florida, Washington DC, or New York, Attorney Gisondo can help. To learn more about his Family Law practice, please visit his website, http://gisondolaw.com. You can call his office at (561) 530-4568 for more information and to make an appointment for a free, initial, in-office consultation.