Also known as: full and frank financial disclosure · financial disclosure
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A procedural requirement in premarital and marital agreements obligating one party to furnish the other with a reasonably accurate description and good-faith estimate of property, liabilities, and income before execution. The requirement is satisfied by delivery of that information, by a separate signed waiver of further disclosure, or by proof that the recipient already possessed adequate knowledge. Failure to satisfy the requirement supplies an independent ground for refusing enforcement of the agreement.
Fiona Foster presented Fumiko Fujimoto with a handwritten asset list one week before their wedding. The list omitted several valuable patents and the recent sale of a manufacturing plant. Without independent counsel or a waiver of further disclosure, Fumiko signed the agreement granting her only a modest lump sum on divorce. The court refuses enforcement because the disclosure was materially incomplete.
Fernando Farrell gave Freya Freeman a net-worth statement valuing his real-estate holdings at several million dollars. The statement omitted eight hundred thousand dollars in liabilities on two underperforming properties. Freya signed without counsel or a separate waiver. After Fernando's death the surviving-spouse agreement is set aside for lack of adequate financial disclosure.
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Flora Ford and Franklin Foundry executed a marital settlement agreement after separation. Flora's statement listed assets and income estimates but omitted recent clinic-expansion liabilities and current market values of a pension plan. Franklin lacked independent knowledge of those items. The Florida court sets the agreement aside because the disclosure was neither full nor frank.
Adequate disclosure requires a reasonably accurate description and good-faith estimate of the other party's property, liabilities, and income. A separate signed waiver of further disclosure or proof that the recipient already possessed adequate knowledge will also satisfy the statute.
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No. A list that leaves out valuable patents or recent property sales is materially incomplete and fails to provide the required reasonably accurate description and good-faith estimates.
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Yes. The statute permits waiver if the party signs a separate record expressly relinquishing the right to disclosure beyond what was provided.
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The agreement may be set aside even without proof of fraud or duress if it is shown to be unfair or unreasonable and the challenging spouse lacked full, frank disclosure or a general knowledge of the other spouse's assets and income.
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…that the parties' premarital agreement was unenforceable because the plaintiff had met her burden of proving lack of adequate financial disclosure by the defendant and lack of a reasonable opportunity to consult with independent counsel. The court determined that the plaintiff did not have sufficient time to examine the agreement and…