What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine…prenuptial agreement, joint property and hand grenades

Sharyn and Leslie Turchin, like many couples these days, entered into a pre-marital agreement prior to their marriage ceremony whereby they both renounced any ownership rights to the other person’s property in case there was a termination to their marriage by divorce or death.   Thereafter, Leslie Turchin, using his premarital assets acquired two residences, one described as the Coconut Isle and the other as the Aqua Vista. He recorded title with both his name and his wife’s.  Both properties were subsequently sold during the marriage. The proceeds from the sale of the Coconut Isle property were deposited in the parties’ joint checking account. Thereafter, the husband withdrew most of the funds in order to satisfy his personal obligations with the balance of the withdrawn funds being deposited in the husband’s individual bank account. As part of the purchase price of the Aqua Vista property, the buyers executed a mortgage in favor of both the husband and wife.  Leslie Turchin died testate and his estate planning documents directed that the remaining balance on the Aqua Vista mortgage be forgiven. Read the rest of this entry

First District Upholds Integrity of Contracts in Recent OpinionA prenuptial agreement is a contract entered between partners before marriage, or civil unions in those jurisdictions recognizing those. The contract’s contents typically include provisions for the division of marital assets and spouse support in the event the relationship terminates.

Prenuptial agreements usually arise in two very different legal contexts: (1) divorce and (2) probate. In Florida, the rules applying to these two vastly-different courtrooms are exclusive of one another. My experience has been dealing with prenuptial agreements in the probate arena, where the marital relationship has been severed not by divorce, but by the death of one of the spouses. Read the rest of this entry