Q: Can I reverse an amendment to a prenuptial agreement?

A: An amendment to a prenuptial agreement, like the prenuptial agreement itself, is generally enforceable in Colorado when the divorce case is filed.

A prenuptial agreement or amendment to a prenuptial agreement should not be done in anticipation of divorce, however, and may or may not be enforced by a divorce judge if the judge finds that the prenuptial agreement or amendment to a prenuptial agreement was done in anticipation of divorce.

Finally, even if the amendment was signed by you, the Court, when deciding whether to enforce the amendment, will look, among other factors, to the "voluntariness" of your agreement to the amendment in deciding whether to enforce the amendment.

One very big indicator of voluntariness is whether or not you had an attorney review the amendment before you signed it. If you did, it is likely that a court will find the amendment was entered into voluntarily and will enforce it. The Court's assumption is that, if an attorney looked at the amendment and gave you his or her advice and counsel, before you signed the amendment, you must have known what you were doing and you must have signed voluntarily.

If you signed the amendment without an attorney reviewing it first, it is easier to make an argument that the amendment was due to undue "pressure", was not voluntary, and should not be enforced by the Court. This is no guarantee that the amendment will not be enforced. The Court could still decide that you entered into the amendment voluntarily and the amendment should be enforced. It is just a stronger argument for you to make. The Court has the discretion to enforce or not enforce the amendment to a prenuptial agreement based on the voluntariness factor and other factors.

I would need to know a lot of additional facts about what the amendment says, such as which party it favors, and the pressure you were under to sign it, before I could give you detailed advice on this issue.

A court can refuse to enforce an amendment to a prenuptial agreement for a number of factors, such as unconscionability, lack of voluntariness, if the amendment is somehow illegal, whether it was entered into in contemplation of divorce, etc.

When a person has the advice of counsel before he or she signs an amendment to a prenuptial agreement, however, that makes it hard to try to get out of the amendment later. Courts generally avoid "undoing" a valid, voluntary agreement of the parties unless there is a strong reason to do so. Having an attorney review the amendment before you signed it, regardless of whether the attorney advised you to sign or to not sign it, is strong evidence of voluntariness. If you did not have the advice of counsel before you signed it, that makes it easier to make the argument of lack of voluntariness.