If you’re reading this article you probably fall into one of two categories: You signed a prenuptial agreement before marriage and your spouse is challenging it during your divorce, or you want to challenge the document because it’s unfair or invalid. If you want to know whether the prenuptial agreement at issue will hold up in court, look at the following reasons why courts commonly invalidate prenuptials:

It was signed just before your wedding date

If you and your spouse finalized and executed your prenuptial agreement shortly before your wedding, a court may interpret this to mean that the parties were pressured into signing it. No one wants to face the shame, embarrassment and loss of money involved with backing out of a wedding shortly before it occurs. This could create a pressure to sign a prenup when, in fact, one of the parties doesn’t want to.

The terms of the prenup are unfair

Did you read over the prenuptial agreement and were you left with the feeling of “How is this fair?” There’s a possibility that the terms and demands of your premarital agreement are unreasonable – like requiring one spouse to never gain weight, for example. Unreasonable demands are grounds to invalidate an entire prenuptial agreement.

If one party was not represented by a lawyer

It’s vital that both parties who sign a prenuptial agreement have independent legal representation. Failing to have an independent lawyer representing both parties in the prenuptial agreement could lead a court to feel that the unrepresented party did not understand what he or she was agreeing to.

If you’re in the throes of a prenuptial agreement dispute in your divorce, learn about your legal options to defend your rights in state family law court.