Prenuptial agreements, also known as premarital agreements or prenups, are becoming increasingly common in the state of Illinois, including in Dupage County. These agreements are contracts that are entered into by two people before they get married, and outline how their assets will be divided and what will happen to alimony payments if the couple divorces.

Prenups can be an essential tool for protecting the financial interests of both parties in a marriage. In Illinois, the law provides that a lawyer must represent each party in a prenup, and the agreement must be fair and reasonable at the time it is signed. If a prenup is found to be unfair or one-sided, a court may choose to not enforce it.

Reasons for Prenuptial Agreements

One of the most common reasons people enter into a prenup is to protect their separate property, such as assets they owned before the marriage or inheritances they expect to receive. Without a prenup, these assets may be considered marital property and subject to division in the event of a divorce. A prenup can also be used to establish how property acquired during the marriage will be divided, such as a family business or real estate.

Making sure you and your ex-partner create a parenting plan that safeguards your child's best interests is crucial if you are going through a divorce process or terminating a long-term relationship. The choices you make throughout this challenging time will have an ongoing effect on your children.

Parenting agreements are, in most cases, better for all parties involved when the agreements are developed outside of court. However, not all divorces are straightforward, and sometimes the parties cannot agree on who will raise the children after the divorce. If this is the case, they frequently find it difficult to reach a custody arrangement either independently or via mediation. The decision about the custody arrangement may thereafter be made by the family court system as part of the couple's divorce.

What is a Parenting Agreement?

A parenting agreement is a written document that specifies how choices about a child will be made, as well as how parents will share their parenting time in a schedule. All parents of children under age 18 who are divorced, separated, or even who were never married must create a court-enforceable parenting agreement. 

Many couples make a prenuptial agreement that specifies provisions for a divorce before they are married. Premarital agreements can include a wide range of topics that can be discussed and agreed upon by both parties. Even though it is advised that every couple create a prenuptial agreement before getting married, many do not. 

The good news for such couples is that postnuptial agreements are recognized under Illinois law as well. The same conditions and concerns covered by prenuptial agreements are also covered by postnuptial agreements. The main distinction is that the contract is signed after the couple has already been married.

What is a Postnuptial Agreement?

Postnuptial contracts are binding agreements. Similar to agreements made prior to marriage, the couple determines in advance how the couple's joint property and spousal support would be handled in the event of a divorce. These agreements avoid court entanglement while sparing the couple the financial anguish of a contentious divorce. Postnuptial agreements can also make it simpler to decide what belongs to each party separately and what is marital property.

Collaborative divorce in Illinois aims to support those who choose to leave their marriage while preserving their family. With a collaborative divorce, disputes are resolved outside of court by cooperatively negotiating fair settlements between the parties and their lawyers. Instead of contentious negotiations and solutions enforced by the court, the emphasis is on constructive problem resolution based on the unique and common values of divorcing couples. 

More and more divorce cases in Illinois are being handled collaboratively, particularly since the Illinois Collaborative Process Act was adopted in 2018. At the Andrew Cores Family Law Group, our collaborative divorce lawyers have the experience to help you resolve your divorce without using an adversarial litigation process. 

Because the parties agree not to litigate, a collaborative divorce could be more affordable than a typical divorce. If the collaborative procedure is unsuccessful, both attorneys are required to resign from your case. This is confirmed in a signed agreement by the attorneys and both parties. Because it allows for more innovative solutions to a family's challenges, the collaborative procedure could also take less time than a trial.

A divorce is already a complex event in a person’s life. Depending on your situation, you can have an amicable and relatively simple divorce arrangement, or you can have a more complex divorce process such as one where high assets and disputed child-related issues are involved.

At the Andrew Cores Family Law Group, we understand how difficult a complex divorce can be for our clients and we work hard to ensure their rights and interests are protected. Our divorce attorneys have the resources and the experience you need to achieve a favorable outcome, no matter how complex your divorce may be. 

High Asset Divorces

Dividing marital assets during the divorce process is never easy, but it becomes even more contentious and challenging when wealthy couples attempt to divide their assets equally after their marriage.