When divorcing a spouse, the choices made prior to the divorce being finalized will impact most areas of your life, including your last name, address, and assets upon leaving the marriage.
A marital settlement agreement is a contract that clarifies what prospective former spouses have agreed to be bound to during separation and, possibly, once the divorce is finalized. Similar to a separation agreement, a marital settlement agreement can be as expansive as the parties want, remove ambiguity, and limit the need to go to court.
Separating is a seriously stressful process that is likely to impact your ability to rebuild your life after a divorce. If you are considering ending your marriage, contact a Loudoun County marital agreement lawyer to protect your interests while drafting your marital settlement agreement. An experienced family attorney is available to assist you.
Marital Settlement Agreement
Getting divorced is never an easy decision. However, there are steps that can be taken to make the separation and division of assets more streamlined without requiring the courts to divide assets for the parties.
A marital settlement agreement is one of the best ways to ensure an amicable separation, which is inevitably easier for both parties and decreases the chance that the court will make a decision that one or both parties will, ultimately, regret, such as requiring that a child’s home be sold and the profits split because the parents cannot agree on post-divorce ownership.
A marital settlement agreement is a written contract that can address how the parties divide property, pay marital debts, specify the end date of the union to prevent other debts from being jointly incurred, and may include child custody arrangements.
In effect, a properly executed marital settlement agreement in Virginia will have many of the same effects as a divorce decree. To determine marital settlement proceedings, consult with a Loudoun County marital settlement agreement lawyer.
Validity
A marital settlement agreement is a written contract that is entered into and signed by separating spouses without coercion or duress. Since a marital settlement agreement is essentially the same as a separation agreement, it should specify whether it is a temporary agreement or if it should survive the expected divorce.
While the marital settlement agreement does not have to be filed with the court immediately after being initiated to be effective, it is common to have the terms of the agreement incorporated into the divorce decree or filed with the court as a separate contract. This can all be filed with the assistance of a Loudoun County marital agreements attorney.
Contact a Loudoun County Marital Agreement Attorney
When drafting any contract, including a marital settlement agreement, it is best to seek the assistance of an experienced attorney to ensure that the agreement is both sound and enforceable.
An agreement that does not include relevant property and/or assets can still bind each party to the rights, responsibilities, and/or obligations of that agreement, and, in some cases, the terms could be binding without modification.
A knowledgeable Loudoun County marital agreement lawyer will ensure that the contract is in the client’s best interests and that the client understands clearly when a term of the proposed contract is not in their best interests.
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