Legal Question in Family Law in Indiana
10 years ago before I got married I had a lawyer prepared prenuptial agreement in or to protect the family business, my family that everything they had into this business in order to make it a success, that somehow or these 10 years I lost my copy as did she, I contacted the lawyer who prepared it who said he had a copy and would forward me a copy. This copy is an unsigned copy, I saved the email correspondence with them where they acknowledged having prepared the agreement but did not save a signed copy of agreement. My question is in the event of a divorce do I have any legal recourse with this Attorney for not keeping a copy on file even with their acknowledgment that they prepared agreement?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Possible, but very unlikely. Your lawyer does not have to keep copies of your paperwork indefinitely, and as long as she delivered a signed copy to you, she has done what is normally expected. If both sides acknowledge that the unsigned copy is the same as what they signed, you will also likely find that the divorce court will treat that as a binding agreement.
Jay is absolutely right. Ten years is a long time. The standard practice for records retention is seven years as far as I know.