§ 4.12 Limitation of Actions and Laches

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Publication year: 2021

§ 4.12 Limitation of Actions and Laches

A number of states have promulgated a rule that the statute of limitations applicable to an action relating to a marriage contract is tolled during a marriage.⁴⁹⁰ In some instances, however, courts have not considered the applicable statute tolled.⁴⁹¹

In a Missouri case, the premarital agreement provided that, among other things, the husband would provide the necessities of life to his wife during marriage. He breached this promise, and required the wife to provide one-half of the couple's living expenses. When the husband died twenty-five years after the wedding, the wife sued the husband's estate for this breach. The executor claimed that the statute of limitations for this breach began to run when the husband first breached. The courts concluded that the statute would not begin to run for a breach of continued periodic performance until the last breach occurred; therefore the wife could sue for all losses.⁴⁹²

One argument in support of the majority rule of tolling is that a rule requiring litigation during marriage would encourage dissension in an ongoing viable marriage.⁴⁹³ A New York court concluded that this policy no longer was applicable when the partner signed a postnuptial agreement at a time when there already was substantial marital strife.⁴⁹⁴ When the strife continued throughout the duration of the marriage after the contract was signed, the court did not toll the statute. A New York court has held that the statue of limitations for an action to rescind a premarital agreement begins to run at the time of signing.⁴⁹⁵

A North Carolina court has held that the three-year statute of limitation for filing an action for duress, undue influence, and fraud applies to a spouse's claim at divorce that the spouses' postnuptial agreement should be invalidated based on duress.⁴⁹⁶

In a Texas case, five years after her father died, a daughter sued her stepmother to challenge the validity of a premarital agreement that her father and stepmother had signed. The court ruled that, although the statute of limitations was tolled during their marriage and for twelve months after her father's death, her claim was barred by limitations. In addition, during the time after her father's death, the stepmother had become impacted by Alzheimer's disease and could no longer testify. Due to this change in the stepmother's condition since the father's death, the court ruled that the daughter's claim was barred by laches.⁴⁹⁷

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