Law Lessons from Rogers v. Gordon, 404 N.J. Super. 213 (App. Div., 2008) (A-1531-07T2; Decided December 12, 2008):

Picture by M Jefferies

New Jersey adopted the Uniform Pre-Marital Agreement Act (the Act), N.J.S.A. 37:2-31 to -41, in 1988. The Act expressly applies to agreements “executed on or after” the effective date of the Act and does not, therefore, apply to the parties’ 1981 agreement.

In Marschall v. Marschall, 195 N.J. Super. 16 (Ch. Div. 1984), the court distilled the prior case law and held definitively that prenuptial agreements were valid and enforceable and that “[s]uch agreements, subject to [certain] conditions . . . should be welcomed and encouraged.” Id. at 28. The court indicated that principles governing property settlement agreements “should be viewed as equally applicable to antenuptual agreements governing those same issues.” Ibid. (citing Petersen v. Petersen, 85 N.J. 638, 645-46 (1981)). The “conditions” under which prenuptial agreements would be deemed valid and enforceable evolved into a three prong test: (1) that there be “full disclosure by each party as to his or her financial conditions;” (2) that the party sought to be bound by the agreement understood and accepted the terms and conditions of the agreement; and (3) that the agreement be fair and not unconscionable, that is, that the agreement will not “leave a spouse a public charge or close to it, or . . . provide a standard of living far below that which was enjoyed both before and during the marriage.” Id. at 29-31.

The appellate court approved the Chancery Division’s “comprehensive exposition and analysis” in D’Onofrio v. D’Onofrio, 200 N.J. Super. 361, 366 (App. Div. 1985). There, the court indicated that alimony provisions in prenuptial agreements need not “cover all eventualities, since upon changes in circumstances a spouse may apply to the court for an appropriate modification.” Id. at 369-70 (citing Lepis v. Lepis, 83 N.J. 139, 158 (1980)).

[See related Blog Post, published in the New Jersey Family Law blog.]

Also see: “Prenuptial Agreements: Oxymoronic Under the Law; Support law is a slippery slope built on shifting sands“, published in the New Jersey Law Journal, June 22, 2009, p. 43 (196 N.J.L.J. 847).

And also: “PREMARITAL AGREEMENTS: THE F.A.I.R. WAY,” by Charles C. Abut, Esq.

See my related Blog Post on this case.