Pre-Nuptial Agreements: New York Tolls the Statute of Limitations

The New York legislature has passed a law that clears up what had been an enormous problem concerning the enforcement of prenuptial agreements in New York. New Section 250 of the Domestic Relations Law now provides that the three year statute of limitations for commencing an action or asserting a defense that arises from a pre-nuptial or post nuptial agreement is tolled until service of process has been completed in a divorce action or until one of the parties dies. In other words, a party does not have to take any steps to dispute a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement until a divorce or annulment case has been commenced – and even then has three years within which to assert it. (Of course, a litigant should not wait that long but should assert the defense once the case is commenced).