Divorce often creates an opportunity for a second chance at love. If you are engaged to be married, and the union is your second or third marriage, you are likely excited and enthusiastic about the upcoming wedding. However, it is important to remember that marriage is a legal partnership. Consequently, you should be aware of the legal concerns you may face.

Your Marriage Can Influence Spousal Support and Child Support

Spousal support or spousal maintenance is usually ordered for a specific length of time. However, spousal maintenance almost always terminates when a recipient gets remarried – even if the original spousal maintenance order was intended to last longer. You are obligated to notify the paying party, your former spouse, at least 30 days before the marriage. This gives him or her time to file a motion to terminate spousal maintenance.

Child support payments are dependent on the parents’ net income. Your new spouse’s income is not included in child support calculations. However, your new spouse’s financial situation may influence your own financial situation that can impact child support.

Recently, Kelly Clarkson filed for divorce from her husband, Brandon Blackstock, after nearly seven years of marriage. Clarkson is worth an estimated $45 million and is stating that she wants her prenuptial agreement enforced. Reportedly, the prenup outlines an arrangement for legal and physical joint custody of their children, and Clarkson is asking the court to terminate Blackstock’s right to ask for spousal support. The case was filed in a Los Angeles court, but would the court approve her requests if she filed in Illinois? How can you ensure that your premarital agreement is enforced in the Prairie State?

What Makes a Prenup Invalid in Illinois?

Generally speaking, premarital agreements in Illinois are enforceable as long as the agreement is in writing and both parties have willingly signed it. However, there are instances in which a premarital agreement may not be enforced. These include:

Hollywood is accustomed to ugly divorces. In 2018, Jersey Shore actor Jenni “JWoww” Farley filed for divorce from her husband, Roger Matthews, and now Matthews is contesting the validity of the couple’s prenuptial agreement. While the concerns of reality TV stars do not apply to most of us, any couple can have a prenuptial agreement. If you are going through a divorce, and you have a prenup, you will want to be sure to understand how Illinois law will apply to your case, including whether your prenuptial agreement can be contested.

Prenuptial Agreement Laws in Illinois

The Illinois Uniform Premarital Agreement Act governs all prenuptial agreements filed in the state of Illinois. This law states that to be enforceable, both parties must agree to the prenup and sign it. The agreement will go into effect on the couple’s wedding day.

The Illinois statute includes some provisions on what is unlawful to include in a prenuptial agreement. These include any terms that violate public policy or criminal statutes. Spouses are also not allowed to waive the right to receive child support or agree that a parent will not be required to pay his or her child support obligations.

Marriage naturally intertwines a couple’s social and financial lives, and these matters must be untangled in the event of divorce. This is no easy task, especially in light of equitable property division, a legal model that ensures both spouses receive a fair share of marital property following divorce. Under this standard, spouses can expect to divide marital assets in roughly equal measures, regardless of which spouse provided the resources to acquire the property in the first place.

While the contributions of both spouses need to be recognized in a divorce, a spouse who has substantial assets coming into a marriage or the potential to become a high-earner may have reasonable concerns about protecting his or her interests if the marriage does not work out. In these cases, a couple may choose to use a prenuptial agreement to address the resolution of financial issues in the event of divorce or another designated event, such as the death of a spouse.

Planning for the possible end of a marriage before it has even begun may appear pessimistic, but a prenuptial agreement serves an important purpose, and it can make the divorce process faster and simpler by sorting out complicated issues in advance. Importantly, this need is not limited to couples in a particular stage of life at the time of their marriage, as both younger and older couples can benefit from prenuptial contracts.

In the days leading up to engagement and marriage, thinking about the negative possibility of divorce is not a topic most couples want to contemplate. Visions of growing old and all the things they hope to accomplish together usually overtake any concerns about the relationship not lasting.

While expecting a marriage to last a lifetime is the reasonable way to approach a new relationship, no one knows the future. Hammering out how to handle property division and payment of support in the event of divorce through the use of a prenuptial agreement may not be romantic or optimistic, but sometimes pragmatism is more important in the long-term. These conversations are especially important if a couple is older and/or is bringing a lot of assets and other financial resources into the marriage.

Figuring out these issues before divorce is on the table will make the process of dissolving the marriage easier by reducing the likelihood of disputes and the time needed to negotiate a settlement. The terms of these agreements must be memorialized in writing and executed prior to marriage. Further, Illinois regulates the formation and types of provisions these agreements can legally contain.