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Each party should retain their own lawyer well in advance of
your wedding date — not only because it is the prudent
for both parties to work with skilled counsel in this area, but
because it is required by law. Under Section
1615(c) of the Family Code, a prenuptial agreement
may only be executed at least seven calendar days after it is
first circulated between the parties for it to be enforceable.
As a practical matter this requires that all of the terms in
your prenuptial agreement must be agreed upon at least a full
week (i.e., seven days) before your wedding date.
Although we will try our best to accommodate your schedule, we
strongly urge you to retain us or other legal counsel no later
than 3 months prior to your wedding date.
The seven day waiting period is one of several
new legal requirements that the California Legislature promulgated
in response to two significant decisions by the California Supreme
Court in 2000 that were very pro-enforcement of prenuptial agreements.
In re Marriage of
Bonds, 24 Cal.4th 1 (2000) ;
In re Marriage
of Pendleton, 24 Cal.4th 39 (2000). In the Bonds
case, the California Supreme Court
upheld a prenuptial agreement between baseball slugger Barry
Bonds and his wife Sun Bonds even though Sun, who was from Sweden,
could barely speak English and the agreement was foisted on her
the night before their Las Vegas wedding during a ride in a limousine
to the airport.
Effective and top-notch prenuptial agreements are not cookie
cutter forms. Far from it. Each prenuptial agreement must be
specifically tailored to take into account the facts, circumstances
and needs of each unique couple. For example, the California
Family Code requires detailed and personal financial disclosures
to be made between parties entering into a prenuptial agreement;
a prenuptial agreement should make fair, reasonable, and full
disclosure of the parties’ assets, liabilities, sources
of income, and any other potential future assets, such as gifts
or inheritances.
Like any other significant contract in which the stakes are
high for the parties, prenuptial agreements can take a considerable
amount of time to negotiate to completion. In particular, when
one or both of the parties are high net-worth individuals or
have significant income streams, prenuptial agreements can take
weeks or even months to negotiate.
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