a. Make a list of every fact that helps support the conclusion that the agreement was signed involuntarily. For each fact, state why.
b. Make a list of every fact that helps support the conclusion that the agreement was signed voluntarily. For each fact, state why.
c. Assess the voluntariness of the premarital agreement in (i)–(iv). Assume in each instance that the parties did not have independent counsel.
(i) Harry presented Linda with the premarital agreement for the first time at the jewelry store where they were buying a ring the day before the wedding. Immediately after the wedding, they were scheduled to begin an expensive honeymoon cruise.
(ii) Sam presented Mary with the premarital agreement for the first time two weeks before the wedding, just after Mary’s elderly and frail parents arrived for the wedding from abroad.
(iii) When Diane signed the premarital agreement, she was a pregnant teenager, anxious about the legitimacy of her child. Her husband-to-be and the father of the child, Bill, was an older man.
(iv) The spouse signing the premarital agreement was a paralegal.
d. Should the law require each party to have his or her own independent counsel in order for the premarital agreement to be valid?
e. Do you think that there should be any difference between determining the voluntariness of a confession in a criminal case and the voluntariness of a premarital agreement in a civil case? Why or why not?
