Agenda:

8:30 – 9:00am

Registration and Continental Breakfast

 

9:00 am

Welcome and Introduction

Kim Willoughby, Esq., Program Chair and Moderator

 

9:15 – 10:00am

Psychological Panel

 

This panel will be asked to discuss the psychological and emotional challenges facing couples in the process of creating a pre-nuptial agreement while simultaneously choosing wedding flowers. Panelists will be questioned about their approaches to working with couples to help them make collaborative decisions that minimize misunderstandings and distrust.  The panelists will examine what steps can be taken to better ensure the goal of a customized agreement that meets the needs of each partner and is congruent with their shared values and visions.  

 

Presented By:

 

Beth Doyle, LCSW

Joanne Stern, PhD

Arnold Swartz, LCSW

 

10:00-10:45am

Drafting Panel:

 

This panel will be asked to discuss the legal challenges that are often brought to the negotiation and drafting of prenuptial agreements.  Topics will include getting a client to focus on the task at hand, striking the appropriate balance between limiting financial risk and maintaining a sense of fairness, balancing the need for certainty of financial terms with flexibility for future changes in circumstances, and having enough time for reflection, disclosure and discussions (legal, financial, and otherwise) to fully develop a valid, unambiguous and mutual prenuptial agreement.  

 

Presented By:

 

Megan Meyers, Esq.

Bridgett K. Sullivan, Esq.

Michelle M. Rose-Hughes, Esq.  

Danielle Contos, Esq.

 

 

10:45 – 11:00am

Networking Break

 

11:00am – 11:45am

Litigation Panel

 

Panelists will discuss the tendency at the time of a divorce to challenge all or parts of a prenuptial agreement.  They will also talk about how the non-moneyed spouse views a prenuptial agreement once he or she has lived with it and is divorcing, and the expectations that the moneyed spouse has of his or her prenuptial agreement.  The moderator will question what criteria are applied in deciding to challenge all or part of a prenuptial agreement.  There will be discussion about whether at the time of drafting, there is or should be an assumption that the non-moneyed spouse will ask for a better deal at the time of a divorce.  Finally, questions will be asked about when it is advisable to appeal orders regarding prenuptial agreements.  

 

Presented By:

 

Jeremy M. Bernstein, Esq.

Jordan M. Fox, Esq.

Kathy Hogan, Esq.  

 

11:45am – 12:30pm

Judicial Panel

 

Through the lens of hypotheticals, the moderator will explore overarching views about prenuptial agreements and how to deal with current gaps in the law.  Finally, the panelists will be asked about specific provisions that drafters sometimes put into agreements, how they may be viewed, and whether they would be enforced.  

 

Presented By:

 

Honorable Gary Kramer

Honorable Lael Montgomery

Honorable Christopher Cross (ret.)

 

12:30pm

Adjourn