Our Surrey Punjabi family lawyers understand the importance of Punjabi prenuptial agreements and Punjabi marriage agreements. Surrey Punjabi marriage agreements are very common in British Columbia. We note that these agreements are not common in India and indeed the Indian government is now in the process of making changes to the law in India to permit these agreements to be valid. In BC, you can enter into a Punjabi prenuptial or marriage agreement by calling our Surrey Punjabi fluent family lawyers at 604-576-5400.
Why Does It Make Sense To Have A Punjabi Marriage Agreement?
Younger Punjabi family law clients understand the need to try to establish guidelines for division of property in the event their marriage fails. Our skilled and culturally sensitive, Surrey Punjabi family lawyers and Punjabi prenuptial agreement lawyers routinely draft, review, enforce and if required seek to vary Punjabi marriage agreements.
Whether you are entering your first Punjabi marriage, Punjabi “marriage like” relationship, or you are “re-partnering” by remarriage, you should consider entering into a valid Punjabi prenuptial or marriage agreement. ONLY Spouses who enter their relationship without significant assets or debts and who are happy to share assets and debts acquired during their relationship as provided by the FLA do not need to enter into an agreement.
Everyone else should consult our Surrey Punjabi family lawyers and Punjabi prenuptial agreement lawyers to give serious consideration to negotiating a fair Punjabi family law agreement.
Key points under the new Family Law Act for marriage agreement negotiations are:
- Complete and full disclosure is required and source documents proving accurate values and not mere lists of assets and guesstimates of values are needed,
- Documents that prove value such as appraisals, purchase and sale documents and government valuations or assessments are crucial;
- Accurately establishing the date on which assets and debts are valued is critical at the start and end of a relationship. While dates of marriage are easily proven, cohabitation start dates are often problematic in the absence of an agreement setting the start date.
- Parties must give specific consideration to both the current value of assets and the potential increase in value.
- Registration of ownership of property may have a huge impact on future division of same.
What are common terms in Punjabi marriage agreements or Punjabi prenuptial Agreements?
If you want to divide property differently than under our BC Family Law Act- then a Punjabi marrage agreement and Punjabi prenuptial agreement might contain the following clauses:
- Provisions that each spouse’s property, whether acquired before or during the relationship, remains separate and is not subject to division in the event that the relationship ends.
- Provisions excluding the increase in value of certain property.
- Provisions excluding some or all assets acquired during the relationship from division. For example a business or a house left to one spouse by their parents.
- Provisions that a specific asset will be retained by a spouse, even if the amount of increased value of the asset is family property. Examples could be a company or a family home or vacation property one party has a strong attachment to.
- Provisions limiting which debts will be considered to be family debts such as contracting that neither party can incur debt without consent in writing of the other spouse.
- To provide for the sharing of some part of what would otherwise be considered to be excluded property. Think of a situation where parties are married 20 years and both spouses work hard to maintain a home or business that doesn’t increase in value but has a high net value on separation. Under the Family Law Act only the gain on a property brought into a relationship is shared so without this type of clause one spouse might be left penniless at the end. Remember BC houses actually can go down in value !
Our Surrey Punjabi family lawyers understand the law and the Punjabi culture. Our lawyers are approachable and skilled at explaining complex legal terms in a manner that is easy to digest. Contact us now.
