Imagine you’ve been dating the love of your life for the last three years, and you want to get married, but you’re terrified of the possibility of divorce. Both of your parents have been divorced twice, so you have a realistic view of marriage and you don’t want to experience the kind of contentious and costly meltdown that divorce can sometimes be.
Let’s cut to the chase: You want your future spouse to sign a prenuptial agreement and you don’t know how to bring up the topic. Here are a few points to keep in mind:
- Prenuptial agreements are viewed more realistically these days, and they don’t have the same kind of stigma as they used to. Essentially, your future spouse will probably not look at your prenup like it’s a “gold digger prevention kit.”
- It’s common for couples to wait until they’re older before getting married. This means that many couples have more money that they need to protect by the time they get married.
- Your future spouse might be just as interested in a prenuptial agreement as you are considering that modern marriages are more likely to end in divorce than marriages in the past.
- Focus on the benefits of a prenuptial agreement and that it’s not only about divorce planning; it may also about estate planning.
- See your prenup as a pathway to marriage — something that allows you to breath easier and overcome your fears and tribulations about marriage and divorce, rather than a sad or gloomy topic.
Once you have the “prenup talk” with your future spouse and he or she agrees to the process, it’s important that you both obtain representation from separate and independent family law attorneys. Then, with separate family law counsel, you’re both ensured to fully understand what your prenup entails.
