Postnuptial agreement is a marital agreement. It’s the same thing like any other type of contract in Indonesia. The basic requirement that make the postnup valid is consent between the parties in the contract, husband and wife. It’s that simple! I can’t imagine other people take it more complicated than a walk in the park. Well, at least that’s what I’ve heard from the people on the forum. I don’t really have time to investigate what they say about posts I wrote. I provide the posts and they provide the comments. But this one is really worth a response from me. At least, it inspires me to use it as the title of this post. The postnup, moreover, is legal and it’s doable. It’s like a walk in the park! More important is, it works! Read my lips, it works! Let me explain it further.
The postnup is very useful when spouses failed to create a prenuptial agreement but want to protect their assets. It is not something usual in Indonesia because the law thinks that you should’ve get the prenup in the first place. Therefore, requirements to get a postnup are stricter than getting a prenup. Certain conditions must be met before a judge considers a postnuptial agreement valid. The contract must be created with full disclosure of assets, be entered voluntarily by both parties, and have terms that are fair and equitable. However, even if these conditions are met in a postnuptial agreement, a judge can refuse to enforce it. Therefore, it is very important to start the proceedings with enough legal grounds, previous court precedence that might help the judge to have more leeway for your case.
The postnup will create separation of property ownership in your marriage with the basis of having an affidavit of release and discharge by the foreign spouse. The foreign spouse shall release her/his right in the property ownership and vested in his/her Indonesian spouse. The Indonesian spouse therefore shall act as the title holder of the property in the matrimony. The postnup shall enlist the property acquired during the marriage obtained before the couple have a postnup.
The end results of your postnuptial agreement proceedings is in the form of a deed. The same like an ordinary prenup. The deed shall serves as your separation of property regimes and can be used to prove that there is a property separation in your marriage. Therefore, it gives you and your Indonesian spouse the authority to conduct any property transaction, without any mutual consent. Once the property separation created and vested in a postnup deed, your Indonesian spouse still be the holder of the property title. As long as there is a separation of property in the deed, your Indonesian spouse may keep the property for good. That situation will create legal protection for an Indonesian married to a foreigner.
Please forward this post to people who discuss this issue on the forum. We need to make sure that it is like a walk in the park. I am Asep Wijaya. Thank you for helping me spread the access to the legal system in Indonesia.
Our thanks to Asep A. Wijaya, Managing Director of Wijaya & Co for sharing this information with us!
Disclaimer:
The above is provided for informational purposes only and is NOT to be relied upon as legal advice. This information is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney and should not be construed as a solicitation. No attorney-client relationship is established by use of information found within this article nor in this website.
