USA – ARKANSAS Law and Practice Contributed by: Kathleen Egan, Hannah Lange and Aaron Bundy, Bundy Law
not dividing the marital property equally between the parties. The statute concerning property division excludes certain property from division, includ - ing the increase in value of property acquired pri - or to marriage. Historically, Arkansas trial courts used a judicially created analysis to assess the value of in-marriage appreciation of premarital property when the increase in value was due to the efforts of one of the spouses. However, in 2016, the Arkansas Supreme Court determined that the analysis conflicted with the plain lan - guage of the statute and overturned decades of precedent. 2.4 Spousal Maintenance Spousal maintenance is a need-based concept in Arkansas. The party requesting support needs to provide evidence that support is required to sustain their needs. Judges can also consider many factors in awarding alimony or support to either spouse, including (but not limited to): • one spouse’s needs versus the other spouse’s ability to pay; • length of the marriage; • each spouse’s contribution to the marriage, both financial and otherwise; and • marital and individual debts. Courts may grant temporary alimony during the pendency of an action if requested by either par - ty, but it is not required. The court will typically decide the amount and length of temporary sup - port, taking into account more pressing matters such as living costs and court costs. Arkansas also recognises rehabilitative alimony, which is a time-barred award of alimony to assist one spouse for a certain period of time following the divorce. This is in contrast with traditional or
permanent alimony, which is more open-ended and typically only ends upon the death of either party or remarriage of the party receiving sup - port. 2.5 Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements The Arkansas Premarital Agreement Act is cod - ified at Sections 9-11-401 to 9-11-413 of the Arkansas Code Annotated. Premarital agree - ments are enforceable by the courts, except if the party against whom enforcement is sought proves that: • the party did not execute the agreement voluntarily; or • the agreement was unconscionable and – before executing the agreement – the party seeking to avoid enforcement: (a) was not provided a fair and reasonable disclosure of the property or financial obli - gations of the other party; (b) did not voluntarily and expressly waive after consulting with legal counsel, in writ - ing, any right to disclosure of the property or financial obligations of the other party beyond the disclosure provided; and (c) did not have, or reasonably could not have had, an adequate knowledge of the property or financial obligations of the other party. For premarital agreements to be considered val - id, it must be a written agreement, signed and acknowledged by both parties. The parties must also acknowledge that they have consulted with their respective attorneys, have read and under - stood the agreement, and are freely entering the agreement without coercion or undue influence.
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