Forgive, But Protect

A husband caught his wife cheating on him after almost 20 years of marriage. The husband gave his wife the choice of either getting a divorce, or reconciling and signing a post-nuptial agreement.  She chose the latter.  The parties then spent 27 months negotiating the post-nuptial agreement.  The wife consulted with three different attorneys during the course of the negotiations.  The husband and wife eventually signed the agreement. Approximately 1-1/2 years later, the husband filed for divorce.  The wife sought to have the post-nuptial agreement set aside on the grounds that the husband refused to produce information concerning the requested market value of his real estate and other assets before she signed the agreement and on the grounds that she felt she had no choice but to sign the agreement since her husband told her that if she did not do so they “would go to war and that he would destroy” her. The trial court held that the post-nuptial agreement was due to be enforced. The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision, noting that, even though she was reluctant to do so, the wife chose to sign the post-nuptial agreement rather than end the marriage  and that the wife was familiar with the real estate and other assets and chose not to avail herself of other means for determining the value of the real estate and other assets before signing the post-nuptial agreement.