Mallen v. Mallen
Supreme Court of Georgia
622 S.E.2d 812 (Ga. 2005)
After living together four years, Catherine Mallen (defendant) and Peter Mallen (plaintiff) decided to marry, and Peter presented Catherine a prenuptial agreement, assuring her it was merely a formality and that he'd always take care of her; the agreement listed his business interests but not his income, and his net worth at signing was $8.5 million, growing to $22.7 million by the time he later filed for divorce and sought to enforce the agreement. Catherine challenged enforceability on grounds of fraud (based on Peter's formality assurance), duress (the marriage wouldn't have happened without her signature), nondisclosure of his income, unconscionability, and changed circumstances; the trial court enforced the agreement and granted the divorce, and Catherine appealed.
Whether a prenuptial agreement is enforceable if it was not obtained through fraud, duress, mistake, or misrepresentation, is not unconscionable, and circumstances have not changed since execution to make enforcement unfair and unreasonable.