Absence of Acknowledgment in a Prenup in New York

In Anonymous v. Anonymous (253 AD2d 696, 677 N.Y.S.2d 573 [1998], lv dismissed 93 NY2d 888, 711 N.E.2d 644, 689 N.Y.S.2d 430 [1999]), the Appellate Division, First Department revisited the issue, albeit in dicta, reversing a trial court's grant of reargument on the issue of whether the absence of an acknowledgment in a prenuptial agreement is curable, as well as its concomitant declaration, upon reargument, that the agreement was enforceable. Although the reversal was based upon the appellate court's finding that the "motion to renew and reargue should not have been granted, based as it was on evidence, namely, a certificate of acknowledgment, that defendant could have but did not submit on the original motion," the court also noted that "in any event, we would not permit defendant to cure this defect in the agreement by an alleged acknowledgment in affidavit form which was executed and which surfaced some 12 years after the fact in the midst of a contested matrimonial action in light fo the required formalities of Domestic Relations Law 236(B)(3)" (id. at 697).