Most people are familiar with pre-marital agreements, designed to protect individuals entering a legal marriage. LGBTQ individuals find themselves in an interesting position as it relates to pre-marital agreements because of the staggered way in which marriage equality came about. First, we had federal recognition in 2013 and then state recognition in Pennsylvania in 2014 and finally, countrywide recognition in 2015. People knew marriage equality was coming to Pennsylvania, but we did not know when and couples who legally married elsewhere suddenly found their marriages recognized in Pennsylvania overnight. As happy as we were to win the fight for marriage equality, the quickness with which it was ushered in did not necessarily allow for careful planning; hence considering a postnuptial agreement.  The mention of postnuptial agreements tends to conjure up negative emotions but, in my experience, the LGBTQ community is changing the way we look at them.

Postnuptial agreements became more reliably enforced by the courts in the 1970s, when divorces became more common, and no-fault divorces where one spouse does not have to provide a reason for wanting to dissolve the marriage, rose in frequency. Prior to that, a marriage was considered a single legal unit, rather than two individuals, and could not enter into a contract with itself.

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