Some people believe that a prenuptial agreement has to be fair to both parties for it to be legally binding. It is meant to protect assets that people own and help with the division of property during divorce. But they think it has to do so evenly or the court is going to say that it isn’t fair and throw it out.
But is this really true? Not in most cases. A prenup does not necessarily have to be fair. It just can’t be so completely one-sided, favoring one party over the other, that it would “shock the conscience.” That is not the same as saying that it needs to be fair, and it is most likely that the prenup is going to favor one person to some degree.
How could it be one-sided?
A prenup could be too one-sided if it essentially gave all of the assets to one person. This could be a form of financial manipulation.
For example, one person may know that their partner is desperate to get married and will sign any agreement that it takes. Both people have roughly equal wealth going into marriage.
The first person drafts a prenup saying that they get 100% of the assets in the event of a divorce. They know that their partner is desperate enough to sign it anyway, meaning that they have manipulated them into a significant financial loss if they later file for divorce. A prenup that was drafted this way would likely not be upheld.
Divorce cases involving significant wealth can get incredibly complicated, and couples who are going through this process – whether they have a prenup or not – need to know what legal steps to take.