A Vermont postnuptial agreement is a contract married individuals enter to decide how to divide their assets if one of them dies or they divorce. Postnups differ from prenups (prenuptial agreements) because they determine asset division after, rather than before, a couple gets married.
Vermont most commonly recognizes separation agreements, which are documents couples sign when they’re considering divorce. However, the state doesn’t have concise laws for agreements between couples not planning to divorce soon. Therefore, it’s best to consult a local lawyer to write a postnup with your spouse.
Legal Considerations
- Signing Requirements: No clear statute or case law dictates the signing requirements for postnups, but both spouses can sign it to prove their voluntary entry.
- Dividing Property: Equitable distribution (15 V.S.A. § 751).
Asset and Property Rights
Wife’s Separate Property
- All personal property a woman acquires before or during overture, except by a gift from her husband, should be held by her for her sole and separate use. [1]
Capacity to Contract
- A married woman can make contracts with any person and bind herself and her separate party as if she were unmarried. [2]
- A married woman can sue and be sued for all such contracts she has made, either during or before coverture, without her husband serving as the plaintiff or defendant.
- Court-appointed officials or law enforcement officers can seize the wife’s goods, chattels (personal property), and estate to satisfy the judgment owed.
- A married woman can enter a contract of limited or general business partnership with her husband as a partner. She may contract with him for business purposes.
Business and Earnings
- A married woman’s income from her property and her husband’s interests in that property are generally protected from possession by creditors except in specific circumstances. [3]
Marriage and Divorce
Separation Agreement
- A court may grant a legal separation for a limited time or for forever for any of the causes for which it may grant an absolute divorce. [4]
Spousal Support
- In a divorce action caused by the mental incapacity of one spouse, the court decides on the payment of alimony. [5]
- In a divorce action, the court may order either spouse to make long-term or rehabilitative maintenance payments to the other spouse if it determines that the spouse seeking maintenance can’t support themselves or lacks sufficient income. [6]
Estate Planning and Inheritance
Nonprobate Transfers on Death
- While nonprobate transfers allow assets to pass directly to beneficiaries without probate, those beneficiaries may still bear some responsibility to contribute towards satisfying outstanding debts or statutory obligations of the decedent’s probate estate, but only up to the value of the assets they received through nonprobate transfers. [7]
Inheritance Rights
- A surviving spouse will receive the deceased spouse’s entire interstate estate if the decedent has no surviving descendants. [8]
- A surviving spouse will receive half of the intestate estate if the decedent has surviving descendants.
