Attorney's Fees and the PreNup

There are over a thousand rights and obligations that come along with marriage. Among those are the right to inherit from your spouse, the right to a share of the property acquired by either party during the marriage, and, if you are married long enough, the right to be supported by your spouse after you divorce. These rights are established in the written laws of Florida, the Florida Statutes. Sometime the parties to a marriage enter into a pre-nuptial or a post-nuptial agreement. In most cases, the purpose of this agreement is to make the written laws inapplicable to the marriage thereby taking away many of the rights. Frequently the pre-nuptial agreement will provide that you will only inherit from your spouse if your spouse names you as the beneficiary in their will, that you will only get your share of property if you are on the title to the property or that you will either get no support from your spouse after divorce or a limited amount.

There are some rights that can't be waived or given up by signing a pre-nuptial or post-nuptial agreement. Florida family law provides that, so long as you are married, you have a duty to support your spouse. This means that you cannot waive your right to receive support prior to divorce and while your divorce case is pending. You also cannot waive your entitlement to attorney's fees during your divorce. Even if you signed a pre-nuptial or post-nuptial agreement in which you waived alimony or attorney's fees, you may still be entitled to receive temporary alimony and your attorney's fees from your spouse