My husband and I have a prenuptial agreement. He wanted to protect his business. At the time, I was sad, thinking he didn’t want to share his future with me. We set it up so that things we had before the marriage, our incomes during the marriage and anything we got during the marriage were kept separate. We equally contributed to the household account even though he earned more.
Now, 10 years later, my husband left me for his assistant. Two months ago, my aunt died and left me a seven-figure inheritance. I don’t have the money yet, but I should before the divorce is over. My husband wants some of the money. He is challenging the prenuptial agreement, saying I committed fraud. I don’t know what that means, but my lawyer just told me he can’t represent me anymore. I’ve trusted him for all of these years, and I don’t know why he is turning me away now.
What should I do? Will I have to give my husband my aunt’s money?
A critical part of crafting a prenuptial agreement is full financial disclosure on both sides. My guess is your husband is going to try to get a judge to believe that you knew of this potential inheritance but, because you didn’t disclose it to him when you signed the prenuptial agreement, you committed fraud and therefore the money should be considered part of the marital assets.
My next guess is your divorce lawyer represented you at the time you entered into the prenuptial agreement. If that is the case and the divorce is now contested, he will likely end up being a witness. He cannot both be a witness and act as your current counsel — that is a conflict. You trust him, so ask him for names of other attorneys he knows are capable of representing you in a prenuptial agreement contest.
Then, assuming you really had no idea of your aunt’s estate plan, your next task is proving that. Contact other family members and work on getting sworn statements from everyone else who inherited from your aunt. If she didn’t tell you, chances are she didn’t tell them either. Dig deep and reach out to your aunt’s friends too — they likely knew of her desire to keep her estate plan a secret — get statements from them.
It is not unusual for people to keep their estate plans confidential — even from those who stand to inherit. Do not be afraid to take this issue before a judge. Make your husband prove that you had a reason to know of this potential inheritance a decade ago. Not only is it likely he will fall short, it is equally likely your agreement provides for the unsuccessful challenger to pay the legal fees of the other party. If he wants the fight, he can pay for it.