Now that you and your spouse are planning to divorce in Indiana, you are probably revisiting your prenuptial agreement to remind yourself exactly what you agreed to all those years ago. Perhaps the terms are not as favorable as you remembered. For example, maybe you agreed that you would not ask for spousal support, but then you spent years as the manager of the household and now you have no viable job options. Can your spouse hold you to that?
According to FindLaw, Indiana Code § 31-11-3-8 says that in this situation, a judge may indeed decide not to enforce this particular aspect of the prenuptial agreement. He or she will consider whether going without the support will create extreme hardship for you, and if so, then this portion of the prenuptial agreement may be invalidated.
There is a caveat to this, however, in that the current hardship potential was not something that you or your spouse could reasonably have foreseen at the time that you signed the agreement. You will have to prove these facts to the court.
A judge may also rule that your premarital agreement is not valid if you can prove that you did not enter into the agreement voluntarily. For example, perhaps before your marriage, your fiancé pressured you to sign the document through intimidation or some other means, and you relented but felt coerced. If you have evidence of this, you may have grounds to invalidate the agreement.
The judge may also determine the document is unenforceable if it is outrageously unfair to you. What constitutes proof and how your case may proceed will depend on your specific circumstances, so this general information should not be interpreted as legal advice.
