A Brooklyn businessman will be able to enforce a prenuptial agreement he and his wife ripped up.
Ripped Up Prenuptial Agreement on Honeymoon
According to a judge, Ezra Braha, 44, will be able to enforce a prenuptial agreement he signed with his wife of twelve years, Rina Braha, 37, even though the two ripped up the contract and threw it into the ocean while on their honeymoon.
During the couple’s “whirlwind engagement of less than three weeks” Ezra convinced his then-fiancee to sign the prenuptial agreement. According to court papers, Ezra’s father had “threatened to cut him off” otherwise. But Ezra promised to tear up the contract after the marriage. According to the court papers, Rina “alleges that while they were on the cruise, both parties tore up their copies of the prenuptial agreement and threw the pieces into the ocean.”
Ripped up a “Copy”
When Rina’s lawyer, Laurie Mermelstein, deposed Ezra regarding the alleged deceit, “He said, ‘I ripped it up, but I only ripped up a copy.’ He said it was never his intention to rip up the original; he couldn’t betray his father.” As the court papers state, Ezra retained the real prenuptial agreement. But Rina, “thereafter believed that the prenuptial agreement no longer existed until [Ezra], in one of his fits of rage, dumped a copy on the table.” She also accused Ezra of concealing that he held a 25 percent stake in his family’s multimillion-dollar business that owns apartments in Brooklyn, as well as hotels and malls in New Jersey. The prenuptial agreement, which is now enforceable per Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Sunshine’s decision, caps alimony payments to five years. It also limits Rina’s ability to win marital assets. The couple share two child. Rina has two children from a previous marriage.
Prenuptial Agreement Stands
Sunshine ruled that the prenuptial agreement stands, regardless of the shredding that took place on the honeymoon, because the document expressly states “no promises or covenants outside the prenup shall matter or be taken into account,” in addition to the fact that both Ezra and Rina each had a lawyer that represented them. The decision states,“In this case, defendant fails to make a sufficient showing that would warrant setting the prenuptial agreement aside.”
Source: The New York Post, Prenup dramatically torn up on honeymoon is still in effect: judge, October 28, 2014