Indiana Postnuptial Agreement

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Updated January 23, 2023

An Indiana postnuptial agreement is a contract between spouses that sets the terms for distributing marital property if their marriage ends in death or divorce. Postnuptial agreements are signed after a couple has already married, sometimes years later. Indiana law distinguishes between “reconciliation agreements,” which are signed after marriage but without the intent to divorce, and “separation agreements” or “settlement agreements,” which are signed after marriage and prepared in anticipation of a coming divorce proceeding.

Signing Requirements  – Settlement agreements must be in writing but do not have to be signed by both parties. Sanders v. Sanders (2018). Reconciliation agreements should be in writing, but it is unclear whether both parties must sign them.

Laws

Reconciliation v. separation: An agreement would qualify as a reconciliation agreement if executed to preserve and extend a marriage instead of negotiating the end of a marriage. Hall v. Hall (2015).

Validity: To promote the amicable settlements of disputes that have arisen or may arise between the parties to a marriage attendant upon the dissolution of their marriage, the parties may agree in writing to provisions for:
(1) the maintenance of either of the parties;
(2) the disposition of any property owned by either or both of the parties;
(3) the custody and support of the children of the parties; and
(4) the relocation of the children of the parties.

Ind. Code Ann. § 31-15-2-17(a).

 

Enforceability: Reconciliation agreements are binding so long as they

  1. Are entered into freely and without fraud, duress, or misrepresentation, and
  2. Are not, under the circumstances, unconscionable.

Flansburg v. Flansburg (1991).