Thursday, July 26, 2007

Prenuptial Agreement Upheld in Singapore

The Singapore High Court has enforced a prenuptial agreement entered into in the Netherlands between a Swedish wife and a Dutch husband. TQ v. TR, [2007] SGHC 106; decision date July 11, 2007.

The couple had lived together in England, had moved for a short time to the Netherlands, where they had married and executed the prenuptial agreement under Dutch law before a notary who had acted for both of them. They had then returned to live in England before moving to Singapore with their three children and had then remained in Singapore. The prenuptial agreement provided that there was to be no community of assets and that each spouse would keep his or her own assets.

The Court found that the wife was not domiciled in the Netherlands, so that Dutch law would not govern the division of matrimonial property. Accordingly it looked to Singapore law and specifically to the “Women’s Charter.” Section 112 of Singapore's Women’s Charter empowers the courts to order such division of matrimonial assets as they deem “just and equitable” and requires the courts to consider a host of specified factors in making that decision. Such factors include “any agreement between the parties with respect to the ownership and division of the matrimonial assets made in contemplation of divorce.”

The court awarded “maintenance” (i.e. alimony or spousal support) in the form of a lump sum in the full amount that the wife requested, as well as child support. It then upheld the prenuptial agreement in light of those apparently generous awards.

Monday, July 16, 2007

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).