Harvey D. Shapiro
11/01/2004
Disgruntled spouses and stepchildren can challenge improperly executed prenuptial agreements. Two elements are critical to their weathering any challenge successfully. First, both parties must obtain their own legal representation, so that neither of them can claim they were misinformed before signing the document. While it might seem convenient for the legal staff in our family office to draft an agreement for both husband and wife, Dominic Campisi, a partner at Evans, Latham & Campisi in San Francisco, warns that a prenup can be questioned if one spouse can claim, “He told me, ‘Don’t worry dear; just sign it. The lawyer says it’ll be fine.’ ” If our intended does not have a lawyer, he adds, he or she should hire one.
We must also accurately represent the assets we disclose in a prenup, Campisi adds. If, for example, our wife signs away rights to what we claim is a beach cottage near the Atlantic, and she later finds out it is actually a mansion in Nantucket, she has grounds to challenge the entire prenuptial agreement.
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