Tiger Woods’ wife not the first to consider a mulligan on prenup

As Tiger Woods publicly acknowledged his “transgressions” last week, his wife was looking into changing the couple’s prenuptial agreement in order to collect more of the pro golfer’s millions, according to published reports.

The stakes are higher in this case than most, but renegotiating prenuptial agreements in the course of a marriage, or creating postnuptial agreements, are actually common practices — especially when one spouse has been unfaithful, according to advisers and attorneys.

“It often happens because a guy’s been unfaithful, and no woman wants that,” said Brad Wiewel, an attorney with The Wiewel Law Firm. “She’s going to make him pay for it. It’s an emotional tax, and there’s no way around it.”

According to published reports, the Woodses’ current prenuptial agreement says the couple must be married 10 years in order for Tiger’s wife, Elin Nordegren Woods, to collect a settlement of $20 million.

Under the quickly crafted discussions taking place this week, Mr. Woods apparently has agreed to pay his wife $5 million immediately if she agrees to stay, and she could also get up to an additional $55 million, according to reports from The Daily Beast.

In this case, Mr. Wiewel suspects that Mr. Woods may be willing to pay more money to his wife to protect his own privacy if the marriage fails. “It’s all about leverage. The more she knows about Tiger Woods, the more she could tell and the higher the settlement will be.”

Mr. Wiewel also said children are often used as pawns for renegotiating prenuptial agreements; typically, one spouse, often the father, will agree to give more money in order to get custody of the children, he said.

Prenuptial agreements are actually intended for estate-planning purposes and hold up in law, said Sidney A. Blum, a certified financial planner with GreatLight Fee Only Advisors LLC, who also teaches estate-planning classes at Northwestern University.

But he pointed out that both the husband and wife need to feel that they’re going to get something better in return if they’re planning to renegotiate the terms of the deal.

“The incentive beforehand is whether they’re even going to get married,” he said. “After they’re married, they could change it to try and hold the marriage together.”

E-mail Lisa Shidler at [email protected].