Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York

Wills vs. Pre-marital agreements

My wife and I have legal pre-nuptual agreements formulated prior to our marriage. Subsquent to our marriage we each rewrote and filed our individual wills. Do the terms or specifications of the wills supercede the stipulations of the pre-marital agreements? Our present agreements about what is now joint property (e.g., our home)are different than what was agreed to in the pre-nup. Thanks in advance for your response.


Asked on 9/12/05, 8:29 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Stephen Loeb Law Office of Stephen R. Loeb

Re: Wills vs. Pre-marital agreements

There is no quick and easy answer to your question and much depends on the timing, intention and actions of the parties.

Should you like to discuss this or any other legal matter, you can e-mail me for more information about low cost face-to-face, on-line, or a telephone consultation with a lawyer in our office.

Read more
Answered on 9/13/05, 10:22 am
Walter LeVine Walter D. LeVine, Esq.

Re: Wills vs. Pre-marital agreements

Will provisions and/or asset registrations done after an earlier agreement supercede a pre-marital agreement. For example, if the PMA said there was no inheritance of an asset, but the spouse's name was added to the account registration after the marriage, or the asset was specified in the post-marriage Will to go to the spouse, they are entitled to get the asset, even if the earlier agreement waived it.

Read more
Answered on 10/08/05, 2:08 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Probate, Trusts, Wills & Estates questions and answers in New York