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Though the agreement provided for arbitration, under Texas family law challenges to the validity of a family law arbitration agreement can't wait until after the arbitration takes place.From In re Ayad, decided Friday by the Texas Supreme Court: Relator Salma Mariam Ayad married real party in interest Ayad Hashim Latif in 2008. In connection with their marriage, they signed … [an] "Islamic Pre-Nuptial Agreement" …. In the Agreement, the parties recite their "belief that Islam … is binding on [them] in all spheres of life." As relevant here, the Agreement provides that "[a]ny conflict which may arise between the...

Cheaters never prosper — and this “crazy” woman is ensuring that her fiancé pays the piper should he ever do the late-night creep with another. A newly engaged woman on TikTok has admittedly reached a “new level of crazy” after revealing that she had her hubby-to-be sign a legally binding contract. And per the paperwork, he’s agreed to cover her living expenses if he ever has an affair. “My fiancé just signed a legal document and we got it notarized that if he cheats on me he has to pay my bills,” explained a giddy Chaylene Martinez, known online as...

What had been shaping up as a nasty divorce now appears to be headed for a nasty probate fight. Iconic actor Dennis Hopper, who died Saturday after a long bout with cancer, had been seeking to divorce his wife of 14 years, Victoria Duffy. Now, say reports, she plans to battle for a hefty share of his riches. TMZ reports the couple's prenuptial agreement grants Duffy a bequest only if the couple was married and living together at the time of his death. She plans to argue that even though they lived in separate houses at the time of his...

Couples who shack up before tying the knot are more likely to get divorced than their counterparts who don't move in together until marriage, a new study suggests. Upwards of 70 percent of U.S. couples are cohabiting these days before marrying, the researchers estimate. The study, published in the February issue of the Journal of Family Psychology, indicates that such move-ins might not be wise. And it's not because you start to get on one another's nerves. Rather, the researchers figure the shared abode could lead to marriage for all the wrong reasons. "We think that some couples who move...

Marriage Savers buoyed by grant program By Cheryl WetzsteinTHE WASHINGTON TIMESFebruary 9, 2006 It has taken 20 years to woo 200 cities and counties into signing agreements to combat divorce and promote marriage in their communities, Marriage Savers founders Mike and Harriet McManus said yesterday.     With President Bush's enactment yesterday of a $150-million-a-year federal grant program for healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood, it shouldn't take nearly as long to double that number, Mr. McManus told a panel discussion on marriage at the Family Research Council. -snip-    State and local governments and organizations, both secular and faith-based, can apply for the grants, he...

In a possibly precedent-setting case, the state Appeals Court has ruled that an ex-wife is entitled to alimony even though she signed a prenuptial agreement waiving it. Donna Austin was 37, and Craig Austin was 35 when they were married in May 1989, each for the second time. Two days before the wedding, Craig Austin presented Donna with a prenuptial agreement, which she signed, according to her attorney, Dana Curhan. The Appeals Court upheld the portion of the prenuptial that protected assets Craig Austin had acquired before the wedding. But it said Donna Austin's waiver of alimony was not reasonable...

NEW YORK -- The other day, while cruising the channels in an attempt to avoid the spectacle of a mass love-in that had all the sincerity of a hooker's kiss to her last customer of the night (in other words, the Democratic Convention), as happens so often in life, we stumbled upon the very thing we sought to avoid. What we saw in the few minutes that were bearable seemed like a scene on visiting day at a mental institution. There was the ketchup widow, hands clasped together in the manner that Indians do when greeting each other, addressing the...