Prenups for Kids’ Sake in Divorce Cases

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — María José Osorio Rosas, a deputy for District X in Playa del Carmen, has announced she is working on an initiative to introduce legally recognized prenuptial contracts. The proposal aims to prevent children from becoming bargaining chips in divorce proceedings by establishing alimony, child support, and custody arrangements in advance.

A Framework to Prevent Legal Disputes

The initiative, being developed by the Green Party parliamentary group, would involve contracts that are notarized prior to marriage. Deputy Osorio Rosas stated that the primary intention is to shield children from the negative impacts of contentious divorces.

“As you know, the Green Party parliamentary group submits initiatives as a bloc, and we are working on this initiative, where said prenuptial contract would be notarized. The aim is to prevent this type of harm to children; you know who you are marrying, but you don't know who you are divorcing, and unfortunately, our children are caught in the middle,” she said.

Osorio Rosas highlighted severe cases she has observed, including minors who have spent three or four years shuttling between parents at Family Coexistence Centers (Cecofam), seeing one parent on some days and the other on alternate days. She also cited instances where children are unaware they have siblings because a parental separation occurred during a subsequent pregnancy.

By anticipating these scenarios, she assured that such a contract would establish predetermined terms for alimony, child support, and custody arrangements. This would provide judges with a clear framework from which to proceed should a divorce occur.

“We see cases where the father argues that he cannot meet his financial obligations to his children, when the mother says, ‘But we had a standard of living where you could afford many things, and now you claim to have no money.’ Or cases where the woman plays the victim and there is a lot of back-and-forth from one side or the other. This is what we want to avoid and prevent,” she explained.

Collaborative Development of the Proposal

The deputy added that the initiative has been developed through working groups involving mothers and fathers, feminist groups, and the Association of Parents, among other entities.

“We have one more meeting scheduled with judges who will be sworn in within a few days, precisely to finalize the alignment of this initiative so that we can submit it in October or November,” she stated.

Osorio Rosas indicated that if such a measure is successfully implemented, Quintana Roo would become a national pioneer in this type of prenuptial agreement.