Chantale Suttle is an attorney and mediator licensed in Florida. She founded JustPrenups after more than two decades as an attorney in the South Florida family law system. She has protected people from all walks and stages of life, blue collar, white collar, self-made, and scions of wealthy families. She believes that universally, marriages are strengthened by prenuptial and postnuptial agreements because they facilitate the openness, transparency, care, and communication that lead to and preserve successful marriages.
Whether she is advocating for one side, or mediating an agreement for a couple jointly, Chantale brings to bear her rare combination of family law experience as a child support prosecutor, private practice divorce attorney, family law mediator and family law magistrate. She has served two terms on the Grievance Committee of the Florida Bar, served for two terms as treasurer of Florida Association of Women Lawyers, chaired several sub committees of the Florida Bar Family Law Section. She has been married for twenty years and has two children.
TRADITIONAL
Each partner is separately represented by an attorney. The attorneys exchange drafts of the prenup as each attorney advocates for that partner. Eventually, the two sides agree on terms.
The process may be adversarial as each side is lobbying for only that side’s best interests.
Attorneys tend to bill by the hour as neither side knows how long the partners will require to reach agreement, which may need only 1 draft, but may need 6 drafts. Each draft and each hour of work have a price tag attached.
Attorneys are loyal only to their client. When attorney W represents the wife, attorney W has no duty to the husband. Likewise, the husband’s attorney owes no duty to the wife. Attorney W keeps the confidences of the wife and has the duty to keep her information confidential.
Attorneys may provide legal advice to their client. They may not provide legal advice to the opposing side (i.e., the other partner). You cannot know what your partner’s attorney holds as confidentialfrom your partner.
MEDIATION
Both partners work on their prenup via the guidance of a mediator. The couple must work together to reach agreement on terms with enough opportunity to think through consequences and options.
Disclosure of financial, legal, and other information occurs between the partners. The mediatior ensures the both sides understand the critical role of disclosure in supporting the prenup contract.
The process tends to be friendlier and more teamwork-oriented as the couple’s first response to any clause in the prenup is to ask the partner’s opinion.
The mediator must remain neutral and cannot advocate for either party or for any particular position. The mediator cannot be alone with only one partner in any commuications; both must always be present. All information is out in the open.
Mediators often bill at a flat rate that includes mediation sessions, finalizing the partners’ satisfaction with each other’s disclosure, and finalizing the prenup itself.
