Hell Hath No Fury: Tiger Woods & Postnuptial Agreements
Yahoo Sports reports that Elin Nordegren is now renegotiating her prenuptial agreement with Tiger Woods. It is speculated from other third party sources that she is seeking an immediate $5 million dollars from Tiger Woods as well as an additional $55 million dollars to stay in her marriage with Tiger Woods for two more years.
The initial terms of the prenuptial agreement between Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren were reportedly $20 million dollars after being married for 10 years. Yahoo Sports reports that Chicago Sun Times reporter Bill Zwecker has speculated that Elin Nordegren may receive immediate payment and that the 10 year timeframe would be shortened.
Yahoo Sports also reports from other sources that Ms. Nordegren must "be a dutiful wife in showing up with him at social events and in public as if they were still the perfect couple, and sign a nondisclosure form that will prevent her from ever telling her story."
What is a Postnuptial Agreement?
Postnuptial agreements or posmarital agreements are agreements entered into after a marriage has taken place, but before the parties seek to end their marriage. As with prenuptial agreements, one or both of the parties usually is seeking to protect assets or income in the event of divorce or death. A married couple may seek to enter into a postmarital agreement after a significant financial change or a period of marital conflict.
Key criteria for validity of the agreements include: full disclosure of assets and financial obligations, absence of duress, and fairness.
When a members of a couple are married (instead of just contemplating marriage), they may be held to a very high standard of fairness when dealing with each other on financial issues--perhaps a higher standard than would be the case if they were entering into a premarital agreement.
What About Tiger and Elin?
As you can tell, Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren have a lot of hurdles that they face. To negotiate a postnuptial agreement, they would have to go through all of Tiger Woods' assets. Future assets could be more difficult to quantify if there's a chance Woods' endorcement deals suffer from the scandal.
Like any couple negotiating a postnuptial agreement, Tiger and Elin must go through an exhaustive list of financial obligations, make sure duress is not forcing wither side to agree, and ensure that any postnupial agreeement is fair to both sides.
Related Resources:
- Postmarital Agreements (Findlaw)
- Prenuptial Agreements - An Overview (Findlaw)
- Prenuptial and Postnuptial agreements (provided by Ronald E. Dobelstein, P.C.)
- Marital Asset Valuation (provided by Arroyo Copland & Associates, PLLC)