What Makes a Financial Disclosure Invalid?

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The purpose of a prenuptial agreement is to determine how assets will be divided in the event of a divorce. But this will not be enforceable if not all your assets are disclosed. Continue reading to learn what makes a financial disclosure invalid and how one of the experienced Hudson County family law attorneys at Green & Walden, LLC can help you understand this.

What makes a financial disclosure valid in the state of New Jersey?

Your prenuptial agreement’s financial disclosure is supposed to reveal all of your and your spouse’s assets so that you can later state how they will be distributed if a divorce were to occur. So, you and your spouse must disclose the following:

  • Your net income, and how it is expected to appreciate over time.
  • Your personal assets, and how they are expected to appreciate over time.
  • Your inheritances that you are expected to gain over time.
  • Your debts and liabilities.

In addition to providing full disclosure, your prenuptial agreement must meet the following criteria to be considered valid:

  • You and your spouse made a fair and just agreement.
  • You and your spouse made the agreement in writing.
  • You and your spouse had the agreement notarized.
  • You and your spouse did not sign the agreement under coercion or duress.
  • You and your spouse each have an attorney when establishing the agreement.
  • You and your spouse had the agreement reviewed and approved by the courts.
  • You and your spouse established the agreement before your marriage.

What makes a financial disclosure invalid in the state of New Jersey?

Inevitably, your financial disclosure will be considered invalid if you and your spouse hide assets from it. This will cause the New Jersey family court to disregard your prenuptial agreement and revert to equitable distribution law when it comes to dividing your assets in your divorce proceedings. And so, you and your spouse may lose the assets that you wished to hide from or protect with your prenuptial agreement.

However, the consequences may be much worse than this. If you are under the assumption that your spouse hid assets from you, then you must hire a forensic accountant for your litigation proceedings. If they confirm your suspicions, then your spouse may suffer from the following penalties:

  • Your spouse may be ordered to pay a fine.
  • Your spouse may be ordered to jail time or imprisonment.
  • Your spouse may be ordered to pay your legal fees.
  • Your spouse may be ordered to forfeit their hidden assets or the value of their hidden assets.

And ultimately, your spouse may lose credibility in the eyes of the New Jersey family court, which may alter their divorce judgments. For more information, contact a Hudson County family law attorney today.

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