Few Truths to Learn About a Prenup Before Getting Married
Has the thought of prenup crossed your mind? You may have discarded the idea due to what you heard about the prenup in the media. You may have been led to believe that a prenup protects the more affluent spouse from losing their assets and money in a divorce. Prenups can clarify financial matters and help you and your spouse to have clear communication before getting married. Here are some facts about prenups.
What Is A Prenup
A prenup is a written agreement you need to enter with your spouse before getting married. It mentions how to deal with assets and finances while you are married and during the event of a divorce. It also allows you to understand the legal rights you both acquire while getting married and what rights you will give up if you get divorced. A prenup can help define financial boundaries, making it essential when getting a divorce and deciding on your assets and finances.
Not getting a prenup allows the court in your state to control what happens in the event of a divorce; this might not be the right fit for your marriage. Hence getting a prenup works for your best interest as it allows you to decide what laws will control your marriage. Here are a few more facts about prenups that you should know.
Prenups Can Be Romantic
You can create intimacy and build better trust in your relationship with a prenup agreement that is crafted carefully. You can effectively foster empathy and communication between each other by discussing how your finances will be handled during and after the marriage.
A big myth surrounding prenups is that it indicates a lack of trust and confidence between the partners, which is why they are considering a prenup. This is why couples don’t want to talk about finances while dating or getting newly engaged.
The truth is, prenups encourage and facilitate setting expectations and transparency in a marriage, rather than just protecting you if the marriage falls apart.
A common central topic that creates conflict after a marriage is over is money. A prenup arranges crucial discussions about how your finances will be handled during the marriage and after it is over.
Signing a prenup does not mean there is no trust between you and your partner; rather, it means that both of you are invested in the relationship in the long run.
Prenups Aren’t Meant For The Rich Alone
You don’t have to be rich to afford a prenup agreement. A prenup encourages detailed, frank, and honest discussions on how to handle solo and joint finances during and after your marriage; this way, there are no nasty surprises when you get hitched.
You will be growing in money and investment during your marriage, and a prenup will detail how to allot this new influx of cash. As you invest more in your marriage and relationship, you don’t need to be confused or resentful about any new money coming in.
Prenups can lessen the pain of divorce if things don’t work out. Assets and debts are both divided during the divorce settlements. If any of you bring previous debt into the marriage, the prenup will clarify who will be responsible for repaying these debts.
It is best to have these discussions at the onset as you feel very much in love with each other, rather than talking about it when you are resentful towards each other.
Even if your family owns the business or assets, getting a prenup is still crucial. If you continue to work on the business during your marriage, the shared and owned property between you and your spouse will gain in interest. You can get a prenup to protect these assets from becoming shared and owned property with your spouse.
Both Spouses Can Benefit From The Prenup
Prenups nowadays are required to protect both spouses. This is because the courts don’t hold up one-sided and unfair prenups. The prenup must have the following attributes to be enforceable:
- It needs to be signed by both parties with their lawyers present.
- It must be entirely fair for both parties.
- It should not be one-sided.
- Both parties must be completely honest about it when it comes to their assets and debts.
For example, if your spouse decides to stay at home and take care of raising the children, then the prenup must have provisions that compensate them for the interruption coming to their career by giving them spousal support.
Your agreement has to define the terms, limits, duration, and amount of support. This way, you can make the agreement reasonable and more easily enforceable to the court. You must ensure that your divorce settlement is aligned with your prenup to get the most benefits out of it.
You Can Craft A Prenup According to Your Specific Needs
You can include as many issues as you feel required in the prenup. You may be concerned about your premarital inheritance, property, or spousal support. You can address all these issues in your prenup. You may limit your premarital agreement to just be about protecting your pre-marital property if that is what you are solely worried about.
You can also limit your prenup to focus on the disposition of your separate property assets once you pass away if that is what you are more concerned about. You will require a Trust or a Will to completely deal with these issues, but a prenup is effective for waiving other statutory rights from your spouse in the event of your death.
Summing Up
Now that you know a few truths about what a prenup agreement is, we hope that you are more confident in deciphering whether you need one or not. In any case, we hope the information we provided in this article will help you to protect your interests through a prenup if you ever have to go through a divorce. Just remember to hire a good attorney to help you with your case during a divorce. Best of luck with your marriage.