H.S. v. M. S. (Supreme Court, Westchester)

Parties executed a pre-nuptial agreement in which the wife waived, in the event of divorce, any claims to the goodwill of the husband’s dental practice. At the time of the marriage, the husband was a dentist and at the time of the divorce action, husband was an orthodontist.  The court was not convinced by the wife’s contention that she only waived any rights to goodwill of a dental practice and not an orthodontic practice.  Due to the proper execution of the pre-nup, the broad language of the pre-nup which waived claims to the goodwill of “…existing dental office or any undertaking run by the spouse…”, and the court’s reasoning that an orthodontic practice was a type of dental practice which wife waived any claims of goodwill on.

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