Premarital Agreements

In Texas, a marital relationship includes important rights and obligations. Some people prefer to modify the default obligations in order to create a marital relationship that better fits their personal situation. Importantly, a premarital agreement cannot adversely affect the rights of a child to support. That said, many issues can be altered by negotiation before the marriage, including:

• Spousal support
• Property
• Death benefits from life insurance
• Wills, trusts, or other arrangements
• Choice of law
• Marital Property Agreements: In Texas, spouses may contract or make an agreement that affects their rights in certain property outside of the default rules provided by law. For example, spouses may:
  • Partition or exchange community property so that it becomes one spouse’s separate property
  • Convert one spouse’s separate property so that it becomes community property or the other spouse’s separate property
  • Agree that income from one spouse’s separate property will become the other spouse’s separate property
• Divorce: Texas is a no-fault divorce state, meaning that spouses generally may get divorced without regard to fault if the marriage has become insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities and is otherwise irreconcilable. However, there are also a number of grounds for finding one spouse at fault. If the court finds that one spouse was at fault in the divorce, the court may grant a divorce in favor of the innocent spouse. Grounds for an at-fault divorce may include:
  • Adultery
  • Cruelty
  • Abandonment
  • Felony conviction
  • Living apart without cohabitation for three years
  • Confinement in a mental hospital
• Annulment:  In Texas, some marriages may be subject to annulment, a type of lawsuit where a judge determines that the marriage is invalid due to reasons that existed at the start of the marriage. Grounds for annulment include:
  • Marriage of a person under 18 without parental consent or a court order
  • Lack of voluntary consent due to the influence of alcohol or narcotics
  • Impotency
  • Fraud, duress, or force
  • Mental incapacity
  • One spouse concealed a divorce from a third party within 30 days before the marriage
  • Marriage less than 72 hours after the issuance of the marriage license
• Void Marriages: In Texas, certain marriages are simply void as a matter of policy, including for reasons of consanguinity, bigamy, age, or family relationship.
• Parentage and Adoption: In Texas, a court may determinate the parentage of an individual in certain circumstances. Often, this judicial determination of parentage is not necessary because parentage is presumed due to the marriage or cohabitation of the parents. However, a parent or the child may be able to seek a judicial order confirming that a parent-child relationship exists between a child and a father or mother. The parents may obtain a judicial order of parentage by agreement or through a DNA blood test.
• Conservatorship: In Texas, a child’s parents may disagree about their respective rights and responsibilities regarding the custody and care of the child, particularly after a divorce but even otherwise. To clarify these rights and responsibilities, the parties may seek a conservatorship order in a Texas family district court. There, a judge may appoint one parent as a sole managing conservator or may appoint both parents as joint managing conservators. Additionally, the judge may grant one or both parents certain rights and responsibilities regarding the possession of and access to the child. The judge will always focus on the child’s best interest.
• Child Support: In Texas, a court may order a parent not appointed as a managing or possessory conservator to perform other parental duties, including paying child support. A child support order may help you obtain the financial relief you need to adequately take care of your child.

To schedule your consultation with a Houston family law attorney, please contact U.S. online or at (832) 430-3167! We look forward to hearing from you.