Wife Didn’t Get “Wish List”, But Pre-Nup Still Upheld
The husband, who was a wealthy 50-year-old man, met the 42-year-old wife online at MillionaireMatch.com. Their first face-to-face meeting was in Las Vegas, and after a short long-distance courtship decided to marry. It was his third marriage; it was her first.
The husband asked the wife to sign a pre-nuptial agreement, which she did 10 days before the wedding date. It had been drafted by the husband’s lawyer but because the wife had been unhappy with its terms, she had it reviewed by her lawyer, who managed to negotiate some changes in her favour. As the court described the outcome of those negotiations:
I accept that the Wife hoped the draft contract would be more generous to her; however, given the Husband’s stated position that he wanted to protect his assets, I do not accept that she genuinely expected the contract to fulfill this wish list.
The final version entitled the wife to $6,000 in monthly spousal support, a 10% interest in the husband’s home after a period of time, and the immediate designation of the wife as beneficiary of the husband’s $1 million RSRP’s in the event that he died prior to any separation.
The relationship was tumultuous, and within a month of the wedding had already begun to unravel. After a series of separations and reconciliations, together with several incidents in which the police were called, the couple finally separated for good after about three years.
In the aftermath of the ill-fated union, the husband claimed that the pre-nuptial agreement should be set aside. He claimed that because the marriage was very short, the various terms including the provision giving the wife graduated spousal support was far too generous to the wife in the circumstances.
The wife, on the other hand, wanted the support and other terms increased in her favour, because she learned that the husband had not been fully forthcoming about his finances, and that she had entered into the agreement under duress and without being aware of the full facts, just days before having 200 wedding guests who were flying in “from all over the world.”
After reviewing the facts and circumstances in detail, the court upheld the pre-nuptial agreement. There was neither non-disclosure, misrepresentation nor duress operating to call its validity into question.
Admittedly, the agreement had been reached without the wife having knowledge of the full extent of the man’s wealth, since he had never provided complete documentation in that respect. However, the wife had never actually asked for it. Moreover, formal disclosure by way of sworn financial statements is not the only way for the husband to fulfill his disclosure obligations; by law it was enough that the wife was generally aware of his assets.
Despite her attempts at trial to portray herself otherwise, the wife was an intelligent woman who had experience with contracts and had operated two businesses of her own, one of which conducted business internationally. She understood the nature and consequences of the pre-nuptial agreement, which had been the result of lawyer-assisted negotiations. There was nothing unfair in enforcing the agreement as it was written.
The court confirmed that the agreement was valid and binding, and ordered that in keeping with its terms, the husband’s support obligations to the wife had ended, with no further spousal support to be paid.
For the full text of the decision, see:
Balsmeier v. Balsmeier, [2016] O.J. No. 667, 2016 ONSC 950
