When spouses get a divorce and have a premarital agreement in Texas, the divorce suit must state the parties’ position regarding the enforceability of the premarital agreement. Either the party seeks to have the court uphold and enforce the agreement as it is written, or the party wants the court to find the agreement void and unenforceable. There are limited reasons why an agreement will be found unenforceable under Texas law. One is that the agreement was entered into involuntarily or that a party was under duress or coerced into signing the agreement. The threshold to set aside an agreement is extremely high and happens very rarely.
Even if the agreement is enforceable, sometimes the parties may disagree about the interpretation of a provision of the contract and how that provision applies to the property division in the divorce. In such cases, the judge will read the document and rule on the meaning of the provision. Then, the premarital agreement is applied to the property division in the divorce.