However, if the marriage works and lasts for years, they want to return to “normal” regulation and cancel the marriage contract. A sunset clause is a clause that sets an expiry date for the agreement. For example, it can no longer be valid after a decade. The clause can be settled as long or as briefly as the couple wishes. As noted in the example of Robert Peterson and Laurie Sykes-Peterson, a marriage contract is a contract and its terms and clauses are interpreted according to the principles of contract law. The contract is applicable as for any other contract. The sunset clause cancelled the prenup when they were still married for their seventh birthday. Robert Peterson and Laurie Sykes fell in love and decided to get married. Three days before his wedding, Robert offered to sign a pre-marital agreement, and Laurie agreed. As part of that agreement, they contained an expiry clause which provided for a specific date on which the marriage contract (Prenup) would terminate. In the specific language, it was said: “This agreement will be null and void and without more force and effect on the occasion of the seventh anniversary of the marriage of the parties”.

The main purpose of a marriage contract is to provide security for married couples. Often, we consider that we are only asking for a “prenup”, that we have little or no faith in the success of an impending marriage. However, the trend for many California couples is to agree on a prenup in order to discover the specific details of a possible divorce right away. If some couples divorce, one spouse must pay support to the other because of the financial burden of the separation. Marriage contracts generally describe what entitles or prevents a spouse from collecting child support and how much. The nature of many types of financial and investment assets makes the payment of support in five years very different from that of 10 years. In phases, sunset clauses can completely dismantle the terms of marriage over time. With a marriage contract, the most prosperous party has a legal contract that, in such a case, protects a large part of his property. But the prenup cannot be ruthless – or extremely unfair – towards the less fortunate spouse. A difficult concept is that the prenup has been properly assembled and the corresponding language has been used. It was a valid and enforceable legal agreement, and it is precisely for this reason that the Prenup expired and its conditions no longer applied. Prenups can have several clauses, and one of the most important is the sunset clause.

This clause is well designated because it covers how the marriage contract ends. Couples can arrange sunset clauses as they wish, and most take them in their prenups, based on the assumption that after so many years of marriage, prenup is no longer necessary or applies exactly to marriage…