Tiger Woods and his wife Elin Nordegren at the winner's award ceremony at the Presidents Cup golf compeititon in this Oct. 11, 2009 file photo at Harding Park Golf course in San Francisco, California.ROBYN BECK
Time to renegotiate that contract, Tiger. And we're not talking about your sponsors.
Tiger Woods's "transgressions" offered the perfect tee up for tweaks to his prenuptial agreement, blogs buzzed yesterday. His wife Elin Nordegren has been handed $5-million (U.S.) to stay for now and could get $55-million for staying at least two years, the Daily Beast reported.
Looks like that prenup wasn't so airtight. But few are, says Stephen Grant, a family lawyer with McCarthy Tétrault in Toronto. "Everybody's free to renegotiate. It's rare, but you certainly do see renegotiations from time to time."
A prenup, or marriage contract, as they're called in Canada, can be toyed with so long as both parties agree to the process, he says (that's often included in the original contract). Changes are most often made when a person's financial value changes.
Some couples plan renegotiations, says Steven Benmor, a Toronto-based certified specialist in family law. "People sign prenups … not knowing if they're going to be together for more than a year. What if they're actually together for 30 years?"
If Mr. Woods and Ms. Nordegren lived in Ontario, he says, a court could set aside a marital contract if one party didn't understand it when he or she signed, if one party failed to disclose major assets, debt or liabilities, or if the contract was entered under duress or undue influence. Family laws are similar across the country.
When it comes down to it, Mr. Grant says, renegotiations are rarer than the star golfer's fumbles on the fairway.
"If the marriage ends in separation, you see [the prenup] If it doesn't, then you never hear about it."