There’s a lot of selfish reasons to enter into a prenuptial agreement or a postnuptial agreement: you want to keep your stuff or you don’t want pay your spouse support in the future. There is one, relatively, noble reason to enter into a prenuptial agreement or a postnuptial agreement, to preserve your heir’s inheritance in case you get divorced. If a married person with children dies without a will the current spouse automatically gets 50% of their estate, “If there is a surviving spouse and also a descendant of the decedent: 1/2 of the entire estate to the surviving spouse and 1/2 to the decedent’s descendants per stirpes.” 755 ILCS 5/2-1(a) A Surviving Spouse’s Right To Renounce Their Deceased Spouse’s Will If a married person has a will, they can leave their assets to whomever they want…unless their spouse ‘renounces’ the will. “If a will is renounced by the testator’s surviving spouse, whether or not the will contains any provision for the benefit of the surviving spouse, the surviving spouse is entitled to the following share of the testator’s estate after payment of all just claims: 1/3 of the entire estate if the testator leaves a descendant or 1/2 of the entire estate if the testator leaves no descendant.” 755 ILCS 5/2-8(a) “[I]f competent, the survivor has an absolute right to renounce the will of the deceased spouse by filing a renunciation.” First Nat’l Bank of Danville v. McMillan, 12 Ill. 2d 61, 66-67 (1957) The current surviving spouse always gets the opportunity to renounce the will…unless they have previously agree not to. “[A]bsent a valid prenuptial or postnuptial agreement the wishes of a surviving spouse can trump a testator’s intentions.” In re Estate of Feinberg, 235 Ill. 2d 256, 266 (Ill. 2009)(citations omitted) Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements Effect On The Surviving Spouse’s Right To Renounce A Will Prenuptial agreements are called ‘premarital agreements’ in the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. “”Premarital agreement” means an agreement between prospective spouses made in contemplation of marriage and to be effective upon marriage.” 750 ILCS 10/2(1) “The Illinois Premarital Agreement Act allows parties to waive or modify their marital rights by entering into a valid premarital agreement, with limited grounds provided to find the agreement to be unenforceable…By entering into a valid premarital agreement, parties agree that their enumerated rights at dissolution are no longer governed by applicable statutes where those rights are […]