Is Divorce Your Only Option?

Annulment, Separate Maintenance and Postnuptial Agreements, oh my! in this episode of Divorce Team Radio Todd Orston, Partner at the Divorce and Family law firm of Meriwether &Tharp, LLC, discusses possible alternatives to filing for divorce. In the show Todd explores a few ways to address issues relating to custody, support, and property division, without filing a divorce action.

Todd Orston:

Welcome everyone to Divorce Team Radio, sponsored by the divorce and family law firm of Meriwether and Tharp. I'm your host, Todd Orston, and here you're going to learn about divorce, family law, and from time to time, even tips on how to save your marriage if it's in the middle of a crisis. If you want to read more about us, you can check us out online at atlantadivorceteam.com. All right, let's get started.

So people call the time, I've said that many times, and sometimes divorce is the only option. Sometimes. So sometimes there are other options. There are things to think about and options to consider other than a divorce. And as I said before, sometimes divorce is unavoidable. If you've done everything you can to try and save the marriage. If in your mind, in your heart, you believe you've done everything you can and you just can't make it work, then of course divorce is always going to be an option. Hopefully your last option. But there are other ways you can go about this and get some protections and maybe even put something in place that can help you to work on reconciliation. Sometimes taking care of the details like the what ifs, if you were to move forward with a divorce, sometimes that can clear the air and help you to get back on track to working on yourself and working on your relationship. So that's show. What we're going to talk about is alternatives to divorce.

So people will call and they'll say, "Hey, I'm dealing with these issues. I don't know if I'm ready for a divorce." Or they will say, "Here are some other facts, some other issues that are present in my case, is divorce the only option?" And sometimes my answer is no. There are some other things we need to think about.

So what are some of these alternatives that I'm talking about? Let's start with one that isn't intended to try and get you back on the track of working on the marriage and reconciliation, but it's called annulment and people will call and they will say, I want to have my marriage annulled. And we're going to go into that. I'm going to explain what annulment is, what kind of things you need to do to file for annulment, what kind of evidence you need to present to the court in order to justify an annulment rather than a divorce. We're going to go into all of that.

We're also going to go into separate maintenance. Here in Georgia, there is something called a separate maintenance action. And we're going to go into some details there as well. I'm going to explain when and why you might be interested in moving forward with a separate maintenance action rather than jumping right into a divorce. And like I said before, sometimes it is a good tool. Sometimes what ends up happening or what becomes clear is that people are asking about a separate maintenance action simply because they are reluctant to move forward with the divorce. They fear or just avoidance, they don't want to have to deal with a divorce. It could be a stigma issue. But our job isn't just to start representing people, it's to also identify the issues that they're dealing with, figure out what some options are. If there are other options. And then to talk about ways we can resolve the issues for them, that we can get them the help that they really need.

So sometimes people will call and they'll say, "Hey Todd, what about a separate maintenance action? I don't think I want to jump right into a divorce." And that might be a viable option. A lot of times just a few questions in I can figure out that really they are heading towards a divorce. And the interest in a separate maintenance action is really related more to avoidance to, "I don't know if I personally, mentally, emotionally are ready for a divorce, so how about this option of a separate maintenance action?" And then what I have to do is I have to explain, okay, well let's talk about, and this is what we're going to go into today, let's talk about what it's going to take to get through the process of obtaining a separate maintenance order. And whether or not that's truly a good solution for you. Very often it's not.

And that's obviously not because we don't want you to try and put tools in place that can pave the way for you to try and reconcile. It's just that, and we're going to go into more detail, but it's that there's a lot of work that goes into a separate maintenance action. You can deal with a lot of issues in a separate maintenance action similar to a divorce. You have to jump through all the emotional hoops related to negotiating these property, support issues, dealing with what custody and parenting time might look like during this period that the separate maintenance action is in force. So you have to ride that same emotional roller coaster that you would basically if you were going forward with a divorce and negotiating the terms of what we call the four core areas. Remember that's custody issues, child support, alimony or spousal support and division of property and debt. Here in Georgia, it's equitable division. So you're going to have to ride that same emotional roller coaster dealing with these issues, negotiating terms, and potentially hitting impasses that require negotiation and give and take.

And so when someone says, "Well, how about a separate maintenance action?" Sometimes we explain all of that and we ask questions about what the intentions are and it becomes very clear that like I said, this isn't about I don't want to divorce because maybe it's salvageable, maybe we can fix things. It's more an issue of it's going to be easier. I'm not ready for the stress related to a divorce. And they end up making a different decision, meaning not to go forward with a separate maintenance action.

And then finally, we're going to talk about post-nuptial agreements. Now you've heard probably more often about a prenup and of course a prenuptial agreement is prior to the marriage, also referred to as an antinuptial.

So that can be a great tool, especially if things aren't going great. And by the way, you don't have to wait for things to be not going well. It is a great tool to define rights and obligations. And so sometimes, especially if someone is contemplating a divorce, sometimes depending on what their goals are, depending on what they're trying to accomplish, a post-nuptial agreement meaning, similar to a prenup except that it's after the marriage and during that marriage we can do a post-nuptial agreement follows the same formalities that will define each party's rights and obligations.

So we're going to go into all of these things. And similar to if you were calling the firm talking to an attorney where we are trying to educate, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to try and throw as much information out there so you understand that if you are in a marriage, if you are dealing with some of these stresses, there are some options. And some of them or one or more of them may apply and maybe not.

But these three things, annulment of course that's simply saying, "Hey, the marriage, we need to go back to when we got married and pretend like this didn't happen." That's a different animal. But separate maintenance actions and postnuptial agreements, these are three options that sometimes can apply and if that's the case, we will need to come at this very differently, I mean as opposed to a divorce.

And I'm going to go into all of that as we continue with the show, as we go into these other segments. And so in the next segment I'm going to jump in and we're going to talk about annulment, because I get that a lot people saying, "Hey, I think that might apply here." And it's a lot more complicated than you might think. We'll be right back.

Speaker 2:

I just wanted to let you know that if you ever wanted to listen to the show live, you can listen at 1:00 AM on Monday mornings on WSB, so you can always check us out there as well.

Todd Orston:

Better than counting sheep I guess, right?

Speaker 2:

That's right.

Todd Orston:

You can turn on the show and we'll help you fall asleep.

Speaker 2:

There you go.

Todd Orston:

I'll talk very soft.

Welcome back. I'm Todd and this is Divorce Team Radio, a show sponsored by the divorce and family law firm of Meriwether and Tharp. If you want to read more about us, you can check us out online at atlantadivorceteam.com. And if you want to read a transcript of the show or go back and listen to it again, you can find it at divorceteamradio.com.

So today, we are talking about alternatives to filing for divorce. And there are three, as I was saying before, we're going to talk about annulment, we're going to talk about separate maintenance actions and we're going to talk about postnuptial agreements. So let's start with annulment. It is the legal equivalent of playing pretend. I mean really at its core you could be married for 25 years, but if there is a ground for annulment and if a court grants an annulment, you are in essence pretending like that last 25 years of marital status never happened.

It is jumping all the way back in time and saying that the marriage never occurred. And that there is no marital status at this point. So in Georgia an annulment, it's a judicial determination that the marriage in questions void or invalid from the date it occurred, under the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, you're going to hear me say like OCGA and it's Section 19-4-1, annulments are permitted. And it will, if it's granted, invalidate a marriage. So it's like it never existed. It never happened. It doesn't mean the relationship's not there. Obviously, if you spend 25 years with somebody, you were with them for 25 years, the law doesn't change that. But it basically says, "Hey, you know how you believe you've been married for this whole time? Yeah, for this reason, legally speaking, you weren't."

And so I will have people call quite often and they'll say, "Hey, I don't want to get divorced, I want an annulment." And there are different reasons that they give. Sometimes it's religious reasons, sometimes it is factual. In other words, something happened relating to the marriage or some new information has come forward that might be a ground that would invalidate the marriage between those two people. But what I have to explain at its very core, and I'm going to go into more detail, but at its very core people, I need to make sure that callers understand that it's not easy. It's not easy to accomplish this, to get a judge to a null a marriage, that's a big thing for a court to do because it's a legal status. And you're looking at a court saying, "Hey, can you issue an order that goes all the way back to the beginning of this relationship and basically say it never happened?" Courts would prefer, and the law prefers you go forward with a divorce, but sometimes it's appropriate.

And so basically, this is something that's going to be granted. You're going to have to file it with the Superior Court of Georgia and different states, they have different rules regarding annulment. So again, I'm talking about Georgia law, it is not a unique Georgia concept, but here in Georgia that's what we're talking about, I'm talking about how Georgia law deals with the issue of annulment. So here, you're going to file it in the Superior Court, you're going to file a petition for annulment. And that petition along with the summons has to be served on the other party. Unlike a divorce where there are residency requirements, those same residency requirements where it's a six-month residency requirement doesn't necessarily apply. But I will also say that the other thing that is very different that you need to understand, if somebody files a petition for annulment against you, we will often tell people there's no such thing as a true default judgment in a divorce.

Meaning if you don't file an answer within that 30-day period, there are potential negative consequences, but unlike other areas of law and other types of actions where if you don't answer and you miss that deadline, the other party basically wins. They get what they're asking for. You're in default. You didn't answer. And the punishment is they get what they're asking for. Well, in a divorce in Georgia there is no default, but with annulments there is. So you must answer, you cannot be that ostrich who puts head in the sand and is like, "I'm not dealing with this." Because the outcome could be pretty damaging.

And so let's talk about grounds. You can't just get an annulment like I was saying, there are specific grounds for an annulment. And if you don't meet any of those requirements or if you can't prove any of those grounds, it's not going to happen. So there are six primary grounds, number one, intermarriage between the parties, such as between a father and a daughter. Well, as much as I would like to say, does that really still happen? Okay, but that is a ground. If something like that happened happened, the marriage could be annulled. That's not acceptable.

Number two, one of the parties is under 16 years of age. Well, again, unless we are living in Game of Thrones time, again, in my mind, look, I have a 16-year-old can barely take care of cleaning a room, let alone being married to someone and entering into that relationship and that marriage knowingly. And so obviously under 16, that is not acceptable and therefore can be grounds for an annulment.

Number three, one of the parties didn't have sufficient mental capacity at the time of the marriage. So someone was not well mentally speaking and they get married. Basically, you look at it almost like a basic contractual thing. If you didn't have the capacity to understand the contract you were entering into, then maybe the contract needs to be voided.

Number four, one of the parties was committing bigamy, meaning one spouse was already married to somebody at the time of the marriage. That's a no-no. You can't marry someone and then not get a divorce and finalize that divorce and terminate that relationship and still go out and meet somebody else and marry them. And that's a really big issue. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail on this, but it's a big issue because I've had people who are married for 10, 15 years and they find out the other party is still married. And if you annul the marriage or when that marriage is annulled, all of the rights you might've had pursuant to a marriage, property rights, rights to potential support, that's out the window because you're not married, there is no marital status and therefore you can't ask for those things.

And number five, force menace or duress was used in obtaining the marriage, the prototypical shotgun wedding. But it can't be, "Well, I felt pressured. My girlfriend said that she was going to leave me unless I married her." That's not the force we're talking about. We're talking about that true shotgun wedding. I'm going to hurt you if you don't get married. You had no choice because you felt if you said no, and if you didn't do it, you could be hurt, killed, whatever.

A more difficult one is fraud. But if you can show that there was some fraud, a potential example of that is, "Hey, I'm pregnant. It's your child, so let's get married." And then all of a sudden either there is no child or there is a child, but you do a DNA test and it aint your child and that person knew it wasn't your child. Well then maybe there is some fraud there that you can use as a basis to annul. Now all of this, remember you might be able to prove one of these things. It doesn't guarantee the annulment. And on top of that, if you have a child with that person during that marriage, then at that point Georgia law is going to require you to move forward with a divorce, not the annulment. There are also some states where if you didn't consummate the relationship, if you didn't have marital relations, then that also could be a ground. But here in Georgia, it's not.

So annulment, again, sometimes it's a good tool, but remember if you terminate based on annulment and it may be unavoidable, but if you do, then there is no marriage. And so it can affect other aspects of what would come up in a divorce like support issues and division of property. If you're not married, some of those rights that you might've had are gone.

When we come back, I'm going to jump in. We're going to start talking about separate maintenance actions. We'll be right back.

Hey everyone, you're listening to our podcast, but you have alternatives, you have choices. You can listen to us live also at 1:00 AM on Monday morning on WSB.

Speaker 2:

If you're enjoying the show, we would love it if you could go rate us in iTunes or wherever you may be listening to it. Give us a five star rating and tell us why you like the show.

Todd Orston:

Welcome back everyone. I'm Todd Orston, and this is Divorce Team Radio. I'm your host and a partner at the divorce and family law firm of Meriwether and Tharp. If you want to read more about us, check us out online at atlantadivorceteam.com. And if you want to read a transcript of this show or other shows, you can find it at divorceteamradio.com.

All right, so we're talking about alternatives to a divorce. The first one, annulment that's really more an issue of, "Hey, we never should have been married in the first place." And there is a specific reason why this marital relationship, this legal marital relationship should be terminated at inception. Meaning judge issue, an order that says, I don't care if we've been married one, five, 10, 15, 20 years, go all the way back to the beginning and issue an order that says it never happened.

Now we're going to talk about what's called a separate maintenance action. That's a unique animal here in Georgia. I'm not saying it's not potentially elsewhere, but I'm just saying this is something that is definitely used here in Georgia. Georgia doesn't recognize, we don't recognize legal separation, so it's not like, "Well, we've been living apart, so we're legally separated." People call all the time. "I think we're legally separated." Well, here in Georgia you're married. But there are people who will call and they will say, "Hey, I'm calling, I don't think I'm ready for a divorce. Are there options?" And one option that oftentimes they'll do some research, they'll go onto our website, whatever, and they will say, "Well, I think we want to do, or I want to do a separate maintenance action."

Well, sometimes it's a good idea. Sometimes, and I would even go so far as to say, most of the time, the reasoning behind wanting to go forward with a separate maintenance action, it's more an issue of, like I said earlier, avoidance rather than it's a good first step or it's a good tool to use because maybe divorce is not appropriate, maybe more effort should be made in trying to save the relationship.

So here in Georgia, people who want to stay married but are living separate and apart, we have this tool called a separate maintenance action. And it can be filed by either party. It remember, it's a voluntary thing. I have to tell people that. I mean, this is something where it's voluntary, what I mean is if either party files for divorce, if either party responds to the filing of a separate maintenance action with the filing of a divorce, the separate maintenance action goes away. Because remember a separate maintenance action, it's, "Hey, the parties want to stay married." If one party says, I don't want that, I don't want to stay married, there's no forcing them to stay married. If one party here wants the divorce, the divorce is going to happen.

But if both parties are of a similar mind that maybe this is a good tool, then what I'm going to go into is some reasons. Why might a separate maintenance action be a good idea? Well, I already touched on why it's potentially not a good idea. Let's talk about that first. Let I'm going to do the negative then the positive. All right. So if you go forward with a separate maintenance action, understand that what you're doing is you are jumping on that emotional roller coaster where you're going to have to negotiate everything. And so it could be support issues, it could be division of property issues, it could be even during the pendency or during the term of that agreement, it could be some custodial issues.

And if you're going to have disagreements in a divorce, you're going to have those same disagreements in the negotiations that take place relating to the separate maintenance action. So sometimes when people call, I'll ask them, I'll say, "Well, tell me, do you think the marriage can be saved?" "No." "Well, how about some therapy? Maybe you go to therapy." "Nope, we've tried, it's not going to work." "Okay, then I have to ask you, why are you wanting to move forward with a separate maintenance action rather than a divorce?" "Well, divorce, I just know it's going to get stressful. I know that my spouse is going to make things difficult and all that." "All right, that's fair." Now let's jump in and start talking specifics. So when we talk about some support, so if you need support and you're looking at your spouse saying, "Hey, I need you to pay me some support, do you think that they're going to be okay with that in a separate maintenance action?" "No, they're probably going to fight on that." "Oh, okay." "Well, what about some of these property issues? You think they're just going to give you the couch, the TV, this account that account the house?" "No, no, no. They're going to fight tooth and nail on some of those things." "Oh, okay."

And we go through that analysis where it becomes very clear that you're going to hit all of those emotional trigger points, whether you go forward with a divorce or a separate maintenance action. And if the conversation started with an affirmative statement that no, the marriage is over, there is no going back, there is no fixing, there is no healing. That can happen. Then I have to look at them and go, "You're not looking for separation to try and heal and give you some space to heal. You're looking for a divorce, you're just reluctant to move forward with the divorce. And you're going to have to again jump through all these emotional hoops."

So the negative here is that you have to jump through all of the hoops, deal with all of the stress, and at the end of it, you've spent a bunch of time, money, and effort to, and you don't have closure. You have partial closure, right? I mean you're dealing with these issues, but you don't have final closure. There's no finale. So that's a negative.

Let's talk about the positives. So the positive is if there is a valid reason like, "Hey, we're working on things. But we know the property issue is hanging over our head or we know some support issues are hanging over our head." Okay, then I'm not going to be the guy that tells somebody don't try and work on your marriage. No attorney should. Actually, it's a very personal decision. I mean it shouldn't be your family members or anyone telling you to move forward with the divorce. I mean unless there are safety concerns, abuse issues, whatever. But other than that, this is a personal decision you have to make. A separate maintenance action could clear the air. A benefit that I have seen is where people use this as a way to clear the air and then they can really start focusing on fixing.

But again, it takes two parties, meaning both parties need to want this. And at the end of it, you're not divorced, you're separated. There are terms relating to how certain things will be handled, like some support, some of the assets, how they'll be handled. But basically, it's one of those things where oftentimes you just need to look to your heart. You need to figure out do I want to jump through all these hoops and do I think that we, meaning you and your spouse, are at a place where we can have those difficult conversations, potentially difficult. There are some people who come and they're like, no, no, no, there are no issues or the issues are minimal, or we already have agreement. This is what's going to happen with custody and this is how I'm going to get this account, and he or she's going to get that account and this is what's going to happen with the house and who has temporary use or use and possession of the marital residence. We're good. We can get through this, but we want at least some closure so we can start focusing on what we think are the important things, and that's our relationship.

So this is a good thing. Also, sometimes people will do it because without that finality of a divorce, there can be tax implications. You're not divorced. So there are some people who will stay married simply because they feel that there are tax benefits to not moving forward with a divorce and basically maintaining that marital status.

Also, sometimes people will do it for "the kids." They don't want to do it because they don't want it to affect the children. Or they will do it, I mean there are a number of reasons. But basically this is one of those things, also, health insurance. By getting a divorce, you may lose certain benefits. That's something you need to contact health providers to see whether or not legal separation would be a trigger. But nonetheless, there are different reasons. Sometimes it is a good tool, other times not.

When we come back, I'm going to jump in. We're going to talk about postnuptial agreements.

Speaker 2:

I just wanted to let you know that if you ever wanted to listen to the show live, you can listen at 1:00 AM on Monday mornings, WSB, so you can always check us out there as well.

Todd Orston:

Better than counting sheep, I guess, right?

Speaker 2:

That's right.

Todd Orston:

You can turn on the show and we'll help you fall asleep.

Speaker 2:

There you go.

Todd Orston:

I'll talk very soft.

Welcome back everyone. I'm Todd. And this is Divorce Team Radio, a show sponsored by the divorce and family law firm of Meriwether and Tharp. Want to read more about us? You can check us out online at atlantadivorceteam.com. And if you want to read a transcript of this or other shows or go back and listen to it again, you can find us at divorceteamradio.com.

All right, so we're talking about alternatives to divorce. And again, let me be a little more clear. If the marriage is over and you need some level of finality in terms of ending the legal relationship of a marriage, divorce is the only answer. But there are times where a divorce isn't appropriate, annulment if the marriage never should have occurred. We talked about that. Separate maintenance actions, where for different reasons, could be tax reasons, could be benefits that a spouse receives and it's like, "well, let's not get a divorce yet." Could be for the kids, could be for other reasons, but you're going to have to jump through all those same hoops, negotiating all those same issues in order to get to an agreement in a separate maintenance action.

And sometimes, it just doesn't work because it's like a divorce. It's an emotional roller coaster. And if you are already on fragile ground with your spouse, then sometimes, a lot of times, it's just not appropriate. And we can talk to somebody, do some reality testing and talk to them and explain what it's going to look like, what the experience will be like, or what we figure out what their intentions are, and they go in a different direction. But sometimes they do it and sometimes it does work out. And whatever they were trying to accomplish by not moving forward with the divorce, sometimes it's appropriate and it works for them.

Now, let's talk about prenuptial or rather postnuptial agreements. So most people have probably heard of prenups, okay? Excuse me. Here in Georgie, you can also do what's referred to as a postnuptial agreement, after the marriage. Just because there are some people who are like, "Well, we're getting married, we need to get the prenup done." Or, "We got married, we wanted a prenup. That ship has sailed." Wrong. The ship hasn't sailed. You can do a postnup. Now granted some of the, I hate to put it this way, but some of that leverage that you might have saying, "Hey, look for us to get married, we both agree, we need a prenup." Well, that's gone, right? You're married and I really am reluctant to call it leverage, but in essence that sometimes is that subtle pressure that it's like, "Hey, look for us to get married, I really think this is going to be beneficial for us, and I'm going to explain why."

So let's start with a postnup, like a prenup or antinuptial agreement. A postnup, what you're doing, it's a contract entered into by a couple where you're basically saying, and you can go online, you can read more formal legal terms relating to it, but I'm going to try and boil it down a little bit. What you're basically saying is, "Hey, I understand that if we got a divorce in that state, the laws of that state might require something, might allow for a certain argument to be made." So for instance, this is an equitable division of property state. Does it mean 50/50? No. Equitable is what's fair and reasonable under the circumstances of your particular case.

So what you're saying with a postnup or prenup, but here with a postnuptial agreement is you're saying, I get it, equitable division, that could be 50/50, 60/40, 70/30, whatever. But you know what? We are now saying that we, by agreement, are going to bind ourselves to terms that basically say, "No, Georgia law is not going to apply in that regard." Meaning, we are going to do, let's say 50/50. Or, anything in my name, mine, anything in your name, yours, anything in joint names, then it was intended to be joint and we're going to do 50/50. And whatever terms you want.

I mean, it just takes some level of imagination, but you understand what I'm saying. I mean imagination, I mean, we're not creating just crazy stuff. But I'm just saying our job is to figure out what are you trying to accomplish and then we can help you accomplish that. And things that need to be thought about, and I'm not going to go into all of these specifics. We could do a separate show or numerous shows just on pre and postnuptial agreements and types of terms that you put in.

But we need to identify what you're trying to accomplish. We need to think about, okay, if you are getting a divorce, how are assets going to be divided? Is there going to be support? What if we're married for this long? What if we're married for that long? What if we're married for another 10 years? Then will alimony change over time? What if I am a working person? And everything in this is reflective of the fact that I work and I earn just like you do. But what happens if we make different life choices? What happens if I exit the workforce? What if I am now responsible for raising kids? Probably a much harder job. And taking care of the family and taking care of the house, and that is our mutual choice. But now we have terms that just flatly say, "Yep, sorry, no alimony."Well, obviously that doesn't work. So you have to think about that future. You have to think about potential life choices that could impact the reasonability of the terms you put into the postnup.

So again, now going back to the really the purpose of the show. Sometimes people when they are contemplating a divorce, sometimes they will say, "Okay, you know what? We see this coming. We're going to do what we can to try and avoid it. We're in therapy, we're going to keep working on things, whatever. But you know what? We see some arguments are coming up, arguments about support, arguments about other things. So maybe we could just clear the air and get a postnup in place and then we don't have to worry about that stuff anymore."

And quite often that works. I'm not guaranteeing it, but sometimes it does work. Sometimes you get into the negotiations on the postnup and you realize how far apart you guys are and one party or the other files for divorce. And the negotiations relating to a postnup go by the wayside.

So like a prenup. If you go online, if you start reading about prenups, but you're interested in a postnup, it's the same rules that apply here in Georgia. So I've had some people say, "I can find tons of stuff on prenups, but I can't find anything on a postnup. It's all the same."

So understand that there are formalities when it comes to a pre or postnuptial agreement that you must follow. If you don't follow them, then it's not worth the paper it's written on and it's not going to be an enforceable agreement. So you definitely want to research what those formalities are. If you're going to do it, do it right, otherwise just don't do it. But the benefit to a postnup is, like I said, it can clear the air. I've had people where it's like, "Look, I had this premarital business or I am getting this inheritance or whatever." And I might look at them and say, well, Georgia does a pretty good job, for instance, with inheritance. It does a pretty good job of protecting inheritance and other things as separate property.

But if it truly is something where you're just worried because you believe that, well, you don't want to have to deal with the issue of the other party making claims. Well, that's an easy one. We could do a postnuptial agreement, we could limit it, right? It doesn't have to be an all-encompassing agreement that deals with anything and everything. It can be very surgical. It can be, "Hey, you're getting this and I'm not going to make any claims." The other party's not going to make any claims against that inheritance. As long as you just do X and Y and Z. If you put it into a joint account, then hey, all bet's off. But you keep it separate. It's your separate property. I won't make any claims to it.

So it is a tool that can be used, either just a broad sweeping general kind of, "Hey, we're going to deal with everything generally speaking," or it can be, again, more surgical, "This is what we're trying to protect, this business, this asset," whatever. And if you do it, make sure you do it right.

Well, that is our show. Those are three options to divorce, different tools for different situations. But obviously if you have questions, call us. And thanks so much for listening.