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Michigan Antenuptial Agreement Statute and Case Law

If you would like to get a prenup in Michigan, you must comply with the following:

  • The contract must be in writing
  • The terms must be fair, equitable, and reasonable
  • The terms must be lawful
  • Must be signed voluntarily by both parties (without being under duress, fraud, or misrepresentation)
  • The contract must be signed at a reasonable amount of time before the wedding
  • Full disclosure of all financial assets and income
  • It is strongly recommended that both parties be represented by their own attorneys
  • It is strongly recommended that there be witnesses
  • It is strongly recommended that the contract be notarized 
  • Do not include clauses about child custody or child support, that is for the court to decide 

Michigan Compiled Laws (MCL) Section 557.28 is the statute governing prenups in Michigan. You can see the statute’s fine print here. Most of Michigan’s prenuptial standards are based on case law.

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Separate Property

Official term for property not considered part of the marital estate

Separate property is the property you get to keep in the divorce settlement. In Michigan, separate property is obtained or earned before the marriage. On the other hand, marital property is acquired or earned during the marriage. Marital property is what will be divided up in the divorce. Be careful though because there are exceptions to these standards: 

  • If one spouse receives an inheritance during the marriage, it is deemed separate property. 
  • If one spouse acquired a property before the marriage, but both spouses put in work on the property to improve it, it may become marital property.
  • If separate property becomes frequently used for marital purposes, it may become marital property subject to distribution. For example, if an inheritance is deposited into the shared bank account.
  • If one spouse receives proceeds in a personal injury lawsuit for pain and suffering, it is considered separate property.

>>For more fine print review Michigan Compiled Statute 552.19

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Alimony (also commonly known as Spousal Support)

Term used in Michigan for Spousal Support: Alimony

In Michigan, courts consider the primary purpose of alimony to be balancing the income of the parties’ needs so that neither party will be unequally disadvantaged. Michigan courts want to create an outcome that is just and reasonable. The factors that they will consider determining reasonableness are the following:

  • The past relations and conduct of the spouses
  • The length of the marriage
  • The abilities of the spouses to work
  • The type of property awarded to the spouses in the divorce proceeding
  • The spouses’ ages (in retirement already? Too old to find work?)
  • The abilities of the spouses to pay alimony
  • The present situation of the spouses
  • The needs of the spouses 
  • The spouses’ health 
  • The spouses’ prior standard of living
  • The contributions of the spouses to the joint estate
  • A spouse’s fault in causing the divorce
  • The effect of cohabitation on a spouse’s financial status, and 
  • General equity principles (anything else the court may consider reasonable)

To calculate the amount of alimony awarded, Michigan courts typically examine age, education, length of marriage, and income of the parties.

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Divorce Statute 

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How to end a marriage in Michigan

There are three ways that a couple can legally end a marriage in Michigan: separate maintenance, annulment, and divorce. Only one party needs to begin the process of ending a marriage. If one party wants to divorce the other party, it is within their sole right to do so, and the other non-participating party does not have to agree in order to begin the process. If a non-participating spouse does not partake in the proceedings, a default judgment will be entered and force the divorce to proceed.

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Residency requirement

Each state has residency requirements that must be fulfilled before you can divorce in that state. In Michigan, these are the residency requirements:

  • One spouse has resided in Michigan for 180 days immediately before filing the divorce.
  • One spouse has resided in the county where the divorce is filed for at least 10 days immediately before the filing.

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No-Fault Divorce

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Michigan is a “no-fault” divorce state – meaning either party can file for a divorce without having to prove that the other party did something “wrong” to justify the divorce. Michigan is a pure no-fault state, so you will need to claim that the marriage is irretrievably broken. In other words, your divorce is beyond repair, and it must end in divorce.

>>For the entire fine print review Michigan Compiled Laws Section 552.6