HOUSE BILL No. 4751

 

 

June 13, 2017, Introduced by Reps. Kesto, McCready, Lucido and Iden and referred to the Committee on Law and Justice.

 

     A bill to amend 1981 PA 216, entitled

 

"An act to provide for the rights and liabilities of married women

with respect to certain real and personal property; to abrogate the

common law disabilities of married women with respect to certain

contracts; to prescribe the payment and satisfaction of judgments

rendered upon certain written contracts; and to repeal certain acts

and parts of acts,"

 

by amending section 8 (MCL 557.28).

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 8. (1) A contract relating to property made between

 

persons in contemplation of marriage shall remain in full force

 

after marriage takes place.

 

     (2) A contract described in subsection (1) is unenforceable if

 

a party against whom enforcement is sought proves either of the

 

following:

 

     (a) The parties' consent to the contract was the result of


fraud, duress, or mistake.

 

     (b) Before signing the contract, the party did not receive

 

adequate financial disclosure. A party has adequate financial

 

disclosure under this subdivision if 1 of the following applies:

 

     (i) The party receives a reasonably accurate description and

 

good-faith estimate of value of the property, liabilities, and

 

income of the other party.

 

     (ii) The party expressly waives the right to financial

 

disclosure beyond the disclosure provided.

 

     (iii) The party has adequate knowledge or a reasonable basis

 

for having adequate knowledge of the information described in

 

subparagraph (i).

 

     (3) A court may refuse to enforce a term of the contract or

 

the entire contract if, in the context of the contract taken as a

 

whole, either of the following applies:

 

     (a) The term was unconscionable at the time the contract was

 

signed.

 

     (b) Enforcement of the term may be unconscionable for a party

 

at the time of enforcement because of a material change in

 

circumstances arising after the contract was signed that was not

 

reasonably foreseeable at the time the contract was signed.

 

     (4) The court shall decide the question of unconscionability

 

under subsection (3) as a matter of law.

 

     (5) This section applies to contracts relating to property

 

made between persons in contemplation of marriage made before the

 

2017 amendatory act that amended this section.

 

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days


after the date it is enacted into law.