COLUMBUS, Ohio — A bill recently signed into law by Governor Mike DeWine adds Ohio to the list of 48 other states that allow married couples to change their prenuptial agreement. ​

 

What You Need To Know

  • Before this bill was signed into law, postnuptial agreements were not allowed in Ohio

  • Ohio joins 48 other states that allow married couples to change their prenuptial agreements

  • Under Senate Bill 210, married couples can draw-up postnuptial agreements and change or cancel previously agreed upon terms

Senate Bill 210 is a piece of legislation that allows married couples draw-up postnuptial agreements. This bill lets couples change or cancel the terms of a previously agreed upon prenuptial agreement. 

 

"You can enter into an agreement before you get married," said Republican Senator Theresa Gavarone. "The problem is after the marriage, it's unclear whether you could terminate a prenuptial agreement. So this bill allows you to modify or terminate a prenuptial agreement or enter into a new agreement." 

Gavarone is the primary sponsor of Senate Bill 210. She said this piece of legislation could ultimately save marriages down the line. 

"If a couple decides they feel that they're headed for divorce," Gavarone said, "but they don't take that step, they enter into a separation agreement instead, which basically sets out rights, responsibilities."
 
Gavarone said sometimes laws can ultimately change in the long run.

If couples decide to refer back to their prenuptial agreement, the rules they decided on in the beginning of their marriage could become unfair to both parties. Gavarone said this law gives the couple flexibility to change agreements and thrive in their marriage. 
 
Spectrum News legal analyst Rory Riley-Topping explained that before Senate Bill 210 was signed into law it was illegal in Ohio to have a postnuptial agreement

"It was just Ohio and Iowa that had outlawed this, so 48 other states allowed some form of a postnuptial agreement," said Riley-Topping.
 
"That's because it's a consensual agreement and a contract between consenting adults," said Riley-Topping. "If you look at it from that perspective, it doesn't really make sense to prevent consenting adults from entering into a contractual agreement that they're both participating in willingly and knowingly. So this is really just to make what's going on in Ohio more in line with what most other states are already doing." 

This new law recognizes marriages can go on for decades and situations between couples can change over time. Riley-Topping and Gavarone both said this legislation is a positive change to Ohio. 

"It doesn't necessarily mean that someone's looking to get out of the marriage," Riley-Topping said. "It just means that people want to create a safety net, recognizing that if a couple does get divorced, the division of assets tends to be one of the hardest things to sort out."
 
"It's an important piece of legislation that's going to really give parties that need flexibility when it comes to working on their relationship and their marriage," Gavarone said.