Phoenix Family Law And Estate Planning Law Blog

Like other states, Arizona allows couples to enter into premarital agreements prior to getting married. These agreements are sometimes referred to as "prenuptial agreements" or simply as "prenups."

Premarital agreements may play an important role in a divorce or legal separation, as a couple can use them to specify how their property will get divided. Such is the case even if the court would otherwise have been compelled to divide the couple's assets and debts differently.

Many residents of Phoenix may have one or more loved ones with special needs. Oftentimes, those with special needs must rely on government benefits and other programs in order to be able to support themselves and receive proper care. These programs frequently have income and asset caps on eligibility, as they are intended for those of limited means. This can put Arizona residents in a bind since they want to give a gift or an inheritance to their family members, but doing so could ultimately harm the recipient financially if it disqualifies that person from important benefits.

The idea behind a special needs trust is that the inheritance or gift will be placed under control of the trustee, who can only distribute it either to or on behalf of the disabled person and in specified circumstances. The fact that the trustee retains the control over the property means that, in most cases, it will not factor into a person's eligibility for benefits. As a side bonus, the funds are also outside of the reach of the disabled person's creditors.

One would hope that during a divorce or legal separation, both members of a couple in Arizona would be willing to deal with their property division issues honestly and fairly. Unfortunately, whether out of fear or of spite, it happens all too often one party attempts to hide assets from the other party. This is against the law, but it does happen. People going through a divorce should be on the lookout for signs that their ex is trying to hide assets.

Hiding assets may not always literally mean moving property to another location. The idea behind hiding assets is always to keep that property "off the books" during a divorce so that it does not get divided or figured into child support calculations. After the divorce or separation is over, the person who hid the assets then has access to them.

Many residents of Phoenix have probably heard about prenuptial agreements and may have even learned about them from previous posts here. For many people, including those who have no plans of divorcing or separating, these agreements can be an important legal document which they may need to strongly consider negotiating with their future spouse and signing.

In Arizona, prenuptial agreements, or "prenups," are legally referred to as premarital agreements. Like in most other states, premarital agreements are legally enforceable as long as they meet certain conditions. On a practical level, a premarital agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties. It is generally a good idea to also have language in the agreement stating that both parties either have discussed the agreement with their own attorneys or freely and voluntarily waive their opportunity to do so. Otherwise, a judge may set aside the agreement if the judge determines the agreement is unconscionable, that is, clearly unfair, and one of the people who signed the agreement did not have an accurate picture of the couple's assets and debts.