Marriage changes your legal relationship to money the moment the ceremony ends, and everything either of you acquires from that point is presumptively community property under Family Code §760. A postnuptial agreement lets you and your spouse rewrite those default rules during the marriage, whether you skipped the prenup, came into an inheritance, started a business, or worked through a rough patch and want financial clarity going forward. Courts examine postnups more closely than prenups because married spouses already owe each other duties of the highest good faith, so the drafting, disclosure, and independent review have to be immaculate. Spodek Law Group P.C. builds postnuptial agreements that hold, and reviews the one your spouse handed you.
Why couples sign postnuptial agreements.
The reasons are more ordinary than people expect. One spouse receives an inheritance and wants it clearly separate before it gets commingled, a founder wants the startup's equity characterized before it becomes valuable, a couple reconciling after a breach of trust wants financial certainty as part of rebuilding, or two people simply never got the prenup done in the wedding rush. A postnup can confirm what is separate, agree on how future earnings will be treated, and bring order to finances that have drifted. What it cannot do is bind the court on child custody or child support.
Why postnups face closer scrutiny than prenups.
Engaged people negotiate at arm's length, while married spouses owe each other duties of the highest good faith, so when a mid-marriage agreement advantages one spouse, California courts start from suspicion and the advantaged spouse carries the burden of showing the deal was fair and fully informed. That means complete financial disclosure, real independent counsel on both sides, and no pressure surrounding the signature. We document every step, covering what was disclosed, who reviewed it, and how long they had, because a postnup's enforceability lives or dies on that record when a divorce lawyer examines it years later.
Drafting a postnup both of you can live with.
An agreement that one spouse resents is an agreement that ends up challenged, so we treat negotiation as part of the drafting. We start by understanding what each of you actually needs the document to accomplish, exchange full disclosures early, and write in plain terms you both understand instead of boilerplate neither of you will remember agreeing to. Your spouse should have their own counsel, and we welcome that, because it strengthens the agreement you both sign. The process runs through our fully online client portal, and most postnups are finished within weeks once both sides engage.
