Free North Dakota Postnuptial Agreement Template

A North Dakota postnuptial agreement is what state law calls a marital agreement. It’s an agreement between spouses who intend to remain married that affirms, modifies, or waives a marital right or obligation (N.D. Cent. Code § 14-03.2-01(2)). North Dakota’s Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act governs these agreements when signed after July 31, 2013.

In a Record, Signed by Both

A marital agreement must be in a record and signed by both parties. It’s enforceable without consideration (N.D. Cent. Code § 14-03.2-05). It takes effect when both parties sign (§ 14-03.2-06).

Four Ways an Agreement Fails

The agreement is unenforceable if the party challenging it proves any of these (§ 14-03.2-08(1)):

• Consent was involuntary or the result of duress
• They lacked access to independent legal representation, as the statute defines it
• Without their own lawyer at signing, the agreement lacked the waiver notice or a plain-language explanation of the rights affected
• Before signing, they weren’t given adequate financial disclosure

Adequate Disclosure

Disclosure is adequate if the party receives a reasonably accurate description and good-faith estimate of the other party’s property, liabilities, and income. It’s also adequate if they expressly waive further disclosure in a separate signed record, or already have adequate knowledge (§ 14-03.2-08(4)).

If a spouse signs without their own lawyer, include the statutory notice, conspicuously displayed, in language substantially similar to this (§ 14-03.2-08(3)):

“If you sign this agreement, you may be:
Giving up your right to be supported by the person you are marrying or to whom you are married.
Giving up your right to ownership or control of money and property.
Agreeing to pay bills and debts of the person you are marrying or to whom you are married.
Giving up your right to money and property if your marriage ends or the person to whom you are married dies.
Giving up your right to have your legal fees paid.”

The agreement should also include:

• Financial disclosure — each spouse’s property, liabilities, and income, with estimated values
• Marital rights addressed — support, property, liabilities, and fees
• Counsel statement — whether each spouse had a lawyer
• Signatures — both spouses

It can modify or eliminate it, with a safeguard. If doing so makes a spouse eligible for public assistance at separation or dissolution, a court may require the other spouse to provide support to the extent needed to avoid that eligibility (§ 14-03.2-08(5)).

A court may also refuse to enforce a term that was unconscionable when signed. Similarly, it may decline a term whose enforcement would cause substantial hardship because of a material change in circumstances after signing (§ 14-03.2-08(6)). So a North Dakota postnuptial agreement should leave each spouse reasonably protected.

Follow these steps for a North Dakota postnuptial agreement:

1. Allow time to find counsel. Each spouse needs a reasonable time to decide on, locate, and consult a lawyer.
2. Cover fees if needed. If one spouse has a lawyer and the other can’t afford one, the represented spouse may agree to pay.
3. Prepare disclosure. Estimate the value of property, liabilities, and income.
4. Add the notice. Include the statutory waiver notice for any spouse without a lawyer.
5. Sign the record. The agreement takes effect once both spouses sign.
6. Keep any separate disclosure waiver with the agreement.