In Rudnick v. Rudnick, the Massachusetts Appeals Court Reiterates That a Prenuptial Agreement Must Be Reasonable at the Time of Divorce

Under Massachusetts law, a prenuptial agreement must be fair and reasonable at the time it is executed. To be enforceable at the time of divorce, it cannot be unconscionable, and the Probate Court judge assigned to the divorce case looks at whether it should be enforced before proceeding with the case.

In Doris Rudnick v. Leonard W. Rudnick, the husband had shortly before the wedding date sprung a prenuptial agreement on his fiancée, and she signed it the day before the wedding against the advice of her lawyer. Throughout their 25 years together, you almost have to wonder why he even had wanted to marry her, as he was constantly scheming with his family to find ways for her to get nothing. (Perhaps the last-minute suggestion of a prenuptial agreement should be a flashing warning sign to future people getting married.) As a part of the scheme, the husband even generously allowed his wife to spend some of her own money on a new home that, unbeknownst to her, neither of them even owned.

The Probate Court judge in Rudnick vs. Rudnick had found that the husband had breached the agreement, and that the wife had waived too many rights in the prenuptial agreement, and the Massachusetts Appeals Court agreed. The divorce then proceeded as though there was no prenuptial agreement.

The bottom line is that a prenuptial agreement or postnuptial agreement is a contract that has to be fair at the time it is being enforced, so the possibility of a very long marriage has to be considered.