Sometimes, these agreements are effected in anticipation of estate or tax planning.

These agreements may involve questions of reverse transmutation, whereby martial property becomes of the separate property of one of the spouses. In case of disputes about reverse transmutation, there must be clear and convincing evidence that both parties intended that martial property become separate property because both parties have an interest in it.

A conveyance of legal title as a adjunct to an express or implied contract to change the ownership of property can convert separate property to marital property, and it is one of the few ways marital property can become separate. Courts must decide whether the conveyance survives the divorce of the parties, or whether "it was intended as a divorce-neutral adjustment in the manner in which the parties held legal title to the assets." In this, courts treat midnuptial agreements very much the way they treat prenuptial and antenuptial agreements.

See also Interspousal Gifts; Prenuptial and Antenuptial Agreements; Separate Property; Equitable Distribution; Community Property; Kitchen Sink States; Dual Classification States.

Your Suggestion