The Legal Issues 163
sioners on Uniform State Laws states that the premarital agree-
ment may contain the following:
• A specific advance determination of the respective rights
and obligations of each of the parties in and to any of the
property of either or both of them whenever and wherever
acquired or located.
• An agreed upon format for the disposition of property upon
separation, divorce, death, or the occurrence (or nonoccur-
rence) of any other event.
• The modification or elimination of spousal support.
• The making of a will, trust, or any other arrangement to
carry out the provisions of the agreement.
• The ownership rights in, and disposition of, the death ben-
efit from a life insurance policy.
• Any other matter, including personal rights and obligations,
that is not in violation of public policy or a statute imposing
a criminal penalty.
• NOTE: The custodial rights of the parents and the right of
their child to support may not be adversely affected by a pre-
marital agreement (i.e., attempts to predetermine child cus-
tody awards in antenuptial agreements are not binding).Just who wants a premarital agreement anyway? In my firm,
we are finding prenuptials to be a part of many second mar-
riages. One would think that it would be the cynical yuppies
who would be asking for them, but ironically it’s oftentimes the
sixty or seventy year olds. I would estimate that as many as one-
third of all my premarital clients are older folks in their sixties
and seventies. Many of them are embarking on their second (or
third, or fourth) marriages and want to protect their assets. They
are determined to pass them down to their own kids by their
former marriage, rather than have them wind up going to their
new spouse’s children. These divorce veterans often have some
rather extensive extended families (including multiple stepchil-
dren), and they want to make sure that their goodies go to their
own kids rather than to the new spouse or the new spouse’s
children.