The Rhode Island Supreme Court has made prenuptial agreements extremely difficult to set aside!

Rhode Island General Law 15-17-6 and established Rhode Island Supreme Court decisions create a heavy burden on a person seeking to invalidate a prenuptial agreement in Rhode Island.

R.I.G.L Section 15-17-6 states:   

(a) A premarital agreement is not enforceable if the party against whom enforcement is sought proves that:

(1) That party did not execute the agreement voluntarily; and

(2) The agreement was unconscionable when it was executed and, before execution of the agreement, that party:

(i) Was not provided a fair and reasonable disclosure of the property or financial obligations of the other party;

(ii) Did not voluntarily and expressly waive, in writing, any right to disclosure of the property or financial obligations of the other party beyond the disclosure provided; and

(iii) Did not have, or reasonably could not have had, an adequate knowledge of the property or financial obligations of the other party.

(b) The burden of proof as to each of the elements required in order to have a premarital agreement held to be unenforceable shall be on the party seeking to have the agreement declared unenforceable and must be proven by clear and convincing evidence.

(c) If a provision of a premarital agreement modifies or eliminates spousal support and that modification or elimination causes one party to the agreement to be eligible for support under a program of public assistance at the time of separation or marital dissolution, a court, notwithstanding the terms of the agreement, may require the other party to provide support to the extent necessary to avoid that eligibility.

(d) An issue of unconscionably of a premarital agreement shall be decided by the court as a matter of law.”

The intent of the statute is to “preserve the validity of such agreements”. In order to invalidate a premarital agreement a person must prove every element of the statute by clear and convincing evidence.

The bottom line is the premarital agreements are extremely difficult to invalidate in rhode Island. There is one potential trap that exists. If the parties change residency and get divorced in a different state, the other state might be hesitant to enforce Rhode Island law. I always insert a paragraph in my prenuptial agreements that Rhode Island law will govern the interpretation and enforceability of the agreement. However, there is no 100 percent assurance that some judge of a different state will follow RI Law.

If a person signs a prenuptial without a lawyer is it enforceable? Yes. It may be preferable for a person to have a lawyer but it is far from required to make the premarital agreement enforceable.

A family law attorney is a professional that specializes in matters when things go wrong in a family.  This type of attorney can help out with any number of issues that you may be going through so it might be a good idea to just schedule an appointment with them to discuss the issues that you are dealing with and to see if they can be of any assistance.

One issue that a family law attorney can help out with is if you are a parent and you are fighting with the other parent for custody of your children.  This type of battle is often very personal for everyone involved and can become highly emotional.  With this, you might be thinking of representing yourself but it might not be the best route to take especially if you do not feel that you can keep your emotions in check throughout the hearing.

Another time that a family law attorney might be of use to you is if you and the other parent of your children are trying to figure out support payments.  These types of cases are also highly emotional because you are battling over the well being of your children and how much one parent is going to pay and how much the other parent will need to receive each month in order to cover the costs of raising the children.

Again, there are many more instances where a family law attorney can be of immense help to you if you are dealing with family issues so you might want to make an appointment with one if you do not think that you can handle the situation on your own or if you need advice on how to proceed from the point that you are at.  They will likely have a great deal of advice on how you should proceed and will give examples of how they can help you out along the way.