Prenuptial Agreements And The Presumption Of Free Choice

This book provides an alternative perspective on an issue fraught with difficulty – the enforcement of prenuptial agreements. Such agreements are enforced because the law acknowledges the rights of spouses to make autonomous decisions about the division of their property on divorce. Yet this book demonstrates that, in the attempt to promote autonomy, other issues, such as imbalance of power between the parties, become obscured. This book offers an academic and practical analysis of the real impact of prenuptial agreements on the relationships of those involved. Using a feminist and contractual theoretical framework, it attempts to produce a more nuanced understanding of the autonomy exercised by parties entering into prenuptial agreements. This book also draws on an empirical study of the experiences and views of practitioners skilled in the formation and litigation of prenuptial agreements in New York. Lastly, it explores how the court might address concerns regarding power and autonomy during the drafting and enforcement processes of prenuptial agreements, which in turn may enhance the role that 'prenups' can play in the judicial allocation of spousal property on the breakdown of marriage.

This book provides an alternative perspective on an issue fraught with difficulty – the enforcement of prenuptial agreements. Such agreements are enforced because the law acknowledges the rights of spouses to make autonomous decisions about the division of their property on divorce. Yet this book demonstrates that, in the attempt to promote autonomy, other issues, such as imbalance of power between the parties, become obscured. This book offers an academic and practical analysis of the real impact of prenuptial agreements on the relationships of those involved. Using a feminist and contractual theoretical framework, it attempts to produce a more nuanced understanding of the autonomy exercised by parties entering into prenuptial agreements. This book also draws on an empirical study of the experiences and views of practitioners skilled in the formation and litigation of prenuptial agreements in New York. Lastly, it explores how the court might address concerns regarding power and autonomy during the drafting and enforcement processes of prenuptial agreements, which in turn may enhance the role that 'prenups' can play in the judicial allocation of spousal property on the breakdown of marriage.

Prenuptial agreements have exploded over the past 20 years, not only among celebrities, but also for all types of people who desire to protect, manage, or enhance their personal, family, or business assets against foreseen and unforeseen circumstances. Attorneys have been assigned the task of cutting through a morass of issues to create agreements that achieve the goals of their clients while meeting complex, and often subtle, legal requirements. Drafting Prenuptial Agreements is the first guidebook ever to cover this growing area of family law. Written by Gary N. Skoloff and Richard H. Singer, Jr., Skoloff and& Wolfe, Livingston NJ, and Ronald L. Brown, Editor, American Journal of Family Law, Aspen Publishers, Drafting Prenuptial Agreements presents a pragmatic approach to preparing successful agreements quickly and effectively in any situation by grouping together and identifying the common areas that need to be addressed. The authors guide you through planning the agreement and the types of issues to discuss with different clients. This thoughtful organization gives you easy access to the tools you need to clearly present the range of choices to be addressed in each type of agreement and situation. Five sample agreements create broad groupings of issues which let you quickly zero in on the concerns parties at specific stages of life and affluence are most likely to want covered by their prenuptial agreement: YOUNG-YOUNG, EQUAL ASSETSand—For young people in the early stages of promising careers, where each has some assets and wants to protect these, as well as their careers, as separate property. YOUNG-YOUNG, DISPROPORTIONATE ASSETSand—For people of middle age or younger, where one already has, or is likely to acquire, substantial assets, and wants to protect these assets as separate property, while reasonably providing for the needs of the marriage, as well as the spouse and any children upon divorce. YOUNG-OLD, DISPROPORTIONATE ASSETSand—For a couple with a large age disparity, where the older party has substantial wealth which he or she wants to preserve for his or her estate, and also wants to provide for disability or incapacity. OLD-OLD, DISPROPORTIONATE ASSETSand—For an elderly couple, where one party has substantially fewer assets than the other, yet is comfortable, and where both want to protect their separate property, provide for a comfortable lifestyle during the marriage and reasonably provide for the spouse with fewer assets upon death or divorce. OLD-OLD, EQUAL ASSETSand—For older parties with similar assets who want to protect their property as separate, yet provide an arrangement by which they can live commensurate with their resources. Drafting Prenuptial Agreements includes a CD-ROM with sample agreements and hundreds of time-saving clauses!

This ring-to-altar guide is a valentine to anyone who’s dating, contemplating marriage, living with someone, or engaged. In Prenups for Lovers, family-law attorney Arlene G. Dubin describes how prenuptial agreements stimulate communication and compromise, enhancing the prospects for a happy marriage. In addition to defending the much-maligned prenup, Ms. Dubin offers a wise and witty handbook for negotiating an agreement, including: how to pop the “P” word, and how to respond if it’s popped to you; checklists to make sure there will be no court after the courtship; real-life profiles and celebrity tidbits special sections for young people, women, entrepreneurs, and cohabitants; tips for married couples (because it’s never too late). Every bride and groom will say “I do” to prenups after reading this book.

Women's Legal Landmarks commemorates the centenary of women's admission in 1919 to the legal profession in the UK and Ireland by identifying key legal landmarks in women's legal history. Over 80 authors write about landmarks that represent a significant achievement or turning point in women's engagement with law and law reform. The landmarks cover a wide range of topics, including matrimonial property, the right to vote, prostitution, surrogacy and assisted reproduction, rape, domestic violence, FGM, equal pay, abortion, image-based sexual abuse, and the ordination of women bishops, as well as the life stories of women who were the first to undertake key legal roles and positions. Together the landmarks offer a scholarly intervention in the recovery of women's lost history and in the development of methodology of feminist legal history as well as a demonstration of women's agency and activism in the achievement of law reform and justice.

The notion of conflict rests at the heart of the judicial function. Judges are routinely asked to resolve disputes and defuse tensions. Yet, when judges are called upon to adjudicate a purported conflict between human rights, they face particular challenges and must address specific questions. Some of these concern the very existence of human rights conflicts. Can human rights really conflict with one another, in terms of mutual incompatibility? Or should human rights be interpreted in harmony with one another? Other questions concern the resolution of real conflicts. To the extent that human rights do conflict, how should these conflicts be resolved? To what extent is balancing desirable? And if it is desirable, which understanding of balancing should judges employ? This book seeks to provide both theoretical and practical answers to these questions. When Human Rights Clash at the European Court of Human Rights: Conflict or Harmony? debates both the existence and resolution of human rights conflicts, in the specific context of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. The contributors put forth principled and pragmatic arguments and propose theoretical as well as practical approaches, whilst firmly embedding their proposals in the case law of the European Court. Doing so, this book provides concrete ways forward in the ongoing debate on conflicts of rights at Europe's human rights court.

This incisive book delineates the development of Law and Religion as a sub-discipline, critically reflecting on the author’s own role in constructing the field. It develops a subversive social systems theory in order to take both law and religion seriously and to challenge them equally.