Premarital Agreements in the 21st Century and the Law of Validity

Linda J. Ravdin, a principal in the firm, concentrates in divorce and family law for families of all kinds. She joined Pasternak & Fidis in 2002, after 28 years with the firm she established after law school.

Linda is experienced in the resolution of spousal support claims, property issues of all kinds, and custody and child support. She has resolved disputes about the validity of premarital agreements, postmarital agreements and separation agreements, as well as the division of private, governmental and international organization retirement benefits, stock options, deferred compensation and nonqualified retirement benefits, businesses and professional services practices, real estate, and securities. She incorporates tax planning as part of negotiating family dissolution settlements. Linda is the co-author of the only comprehensive manual on divorce and family law of the District of Columbia. She is an experienced trial lawyer but believes in solutions that keep her clients out of court whenever possible. She works with clients who choose the collaborative process, mediation, or other forms of alternative dispute resolution. She is an experienced mediator and a volunteer facilitator with the D.C. Superior Court Family Court Alternative Dispute Resolution Program.

Linda is a nationally known authority on the law of premarital and postmarital agreements and has taught other lawyers all over the United States. She is the author of several books on premarital agreements, including Premarital Agreements: Drafting and Negotiation for the American Bar Association, as well as numerous articles. From 2010-2012 she served as the ABA Family Law Section Advisor to the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) Drafting Committee on the Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act, adopted by the ULC in 2012.

Linda has taught a variety of continuing legal education programs, including programs on premarital agreements, the distribution of assets in divorce, division of retirement benefits at divorce, spousal support, and dissolution of same-sex marriages.

Linda is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Both Washingtonian and Bethesda magazines have included her in their lists of the best divorce lawyers in the Washington area.