Babynups and Division of Childcare Responsibilities

You have heard about prenups and postnups, but what about babynups? A babynup is an agreement between future parents as to how they will divide future childcare responsibilities. They are a new phenomenon, but I have seen the issue arise in negotiations surrounding prenuptial agreements. The idea is that the parents, typically very busy people often with their own demanding careers, agree in advance how they will divide the myriad tasks they will soon face in raising their child. On its face, it sounds a little silly. However, if you consider the questions that arise, maybe not so silly. Some examples: Who will pay what for the baby’s needs? If the parents live apart, how do you divide time with the child? Where should the child go to school? Who covers the child’s extra-curricular activities? What about grandparent access?

The entrance of a baby into a family unit can mean chaos, and perhaps considering such agreements would be helpful in focusing future parents on what decisions they will need to make in the upcoming months and years. I have serious reservations how enforceable these agreements would be in a court of law. You certainly cannot draft your way out of paying child support, for example. Still, I could see such agreements having probative value if a parent seeks to enforce a provision preventing a grandparent or uncle from seeing the child. I think a court would be interested in considering what the parents intended at the time of the child’s birth.