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Divorce and postnuptial agreements for the stay-at-home parent

On Behalf of | Jan 10, 2014 | Property Division |

While some people in Lancaster couldn’t imagine being a full-time stay-at-home parent, others couldn’t imagine having both parents working outside the home. For those families who do have one stay-at-home parent, it may be vitally important to work with a family law attorney to craft a postnuptial agreement. Though it may seem business-like and cold, a postnuptial agreement is an important protection for stay-at-home parents, especially in the event of divorce.

When a marriage ends, a couple and their attorneys need to come up with a divorce agreement that lays out a fair way to end the marriage. These agreements include property division, child custody, child support and, in some cases, spousal support. Since spousal support is designed to help individuals adjust to a single income, it is very important to former stay-at-home parents, many of whom may have trouble getting back to work or getting back to the salary they were at before having children.

And that is where a postnuptial agreement can help. A postnuptial agreement can record the sacrifice a stay-at-home parent is making by leaving his or her career to care for the children. Couples can agree to an estimated annual dollar figure that the parent could have made if he or she hadn’t been at home.

Moreover, he or she can estimate the cost of child rearing and put it in the postnuptial agreement. If a couple divorces, those dollar figures can play heavily into creating a fair divorce agreement and possible spousal support award.

Source: CNBC, “Why stay-at-home moms need a ‘postnup’,” Jeff Landers, Dec. 21, 2013

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