Just Because You Didn’t Have a Lawyer Doesn’t Mean Your Marital Agreement Is Invalid

Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements are often signed during emotionally charged moments, and Florida’s leading case on the subject came from exactly that kind of situation. Decades later, it still shapes how courts decide whether these agreements will hold up.

Case background

The husband and wife in this case had actually been married once before, divorced, and remarried each other. When they eventually separated again, they signed a settlement agreement dividing their property. The wife later challenged the agreement, claiming she signed it under duress and without a real understanding of her husband’s assets and income.

At trial, the evidence showed a complicated picture. One attorney the wife consulted reviewed a list of the husband’s assets and actually advised her not to sign the agreement. A second attorney only reviewed the form of the document, not its substance. There was also testimony that the wife had been dealing with significant depression in the days leading up to signing, and evidence that the husband told her she would lose the marital home if she refused. The trial court set the agreement aside as invalid.

The appeal

The case eventually reached the Florida Supreme Court, which used it to clarify exactly what makes a marital agreement enforceable or unenforceable. The Court held that simply proving an agreement is unfair or unreasonable is not, by itself, a reason to void it. Instead, a challenger generally must show the agreement resulted from fraud, duress, coercion, or overreaching, or that it was unconscionable at the time it was signed and the challenging spouse did not receive fair financial disclosure and could not reasonably have known about the other spouse’s finances independently.

The Court also rejected the idea that a party must have had competent legal counsel for an agreement to be valid, reasoning that this requirement was inconsistent with prior case law. Because the lower courts had not applied this specific framework, the case was sent back for reconsideration.

Contact Our Team for Guidance

Whether you are drafting a prenuptial agreement, negotiating a postnuptial agreement, or trying to challenge or defend one already signed, the standard is narrower than most people assume. We encourage you to reach out to our Clearwater prenuptial and postnuptial agreement lawyers at Cairns Law, P.A. so we can walk through your agreement together.

Source:

https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/casto-v-casto-no-891635302