GLASTONBURY, CONNECTICUT · FAMILY LAW + FAMILY-VIOLENCE DEFENSE
Couples who are already married can enter an agreement about property and support. In Connecticut these are not governed by the Premarital Agreement Act, and the standard applied to them is stricter.
Connecticut recognizes postnuptial agreements through case law — principally Bedrick v. Bedrick, 300 Conn. 691 (2011). The Supreme Court held that such agreements are subject to special scrutiny, and enforceable only if they comply with ordinary contract principles and the terms are fair and equitable at the time of execution and not unconscionable at the time of dissolution.
Fairness at execution means the agreement was entered voluntarily, free of undue influence, fraud, coercion, or duress, and that each spouse received full, fair and reasonable disclosure of the other’s property, financial obligations, and income. Whether each spouse had access to independent counsel is part of that assessment.
Spouses owe each other duties that engaged couples do not. One spouse may have far more leverage than a prospective spouse would — financial dependence, children, a shared home, the implicit alternative being the end of the marriage. Connecticut’s courts account for that.
A premarital agreement is enforceable without consideration, because the statute says so. A postnuptial agreement is an ordinary contract and requires adequate consideration. That is a drafting question, and it is one of the places these agreements fail.
Most often when something changes: a business is started or sold, an inheritance arrives, one spouse leaves the workforce, or a couple reconciling after a separation wants to address what happens if it does not hold. Also, frequently, when a prenuptial agreement was intended and the wedding arrived first.
The same limits apply as with a prenuptial agreement. A child’s right to support cannot be adversely affected, and provisions about children remain subject to the court’s review.
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Connecticut prenup and postnup attorney Daniel M. Morton on what makes an agreement enforceable — and why Connecticut’s property rule makes one worth having.
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