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5 reasons to consider a prenup

On Behalf of | Jul 30, 2024 | Property Division

A prenuptial agreement is a document couples can use before they get married, helping to define what assets they own. For instance, the agreement may state that, in the event of a divorce, specific assets are going to stay with one individual or the other. These assets may have normally had to go through property division, but the prenup helps to circumvent that. As such, people use these agreements to protect their own assets.

That said, it’s important to carefully consider what you want the prenup to accomplish if you are considering drafting one. This can be a delicate conversation to have with your future spouse, so having sound reasoning can help.

The top benefits of having a prenup

Of course, every situation is unique, but below are five reasons a prenup may be useful:

  1. You have significantly more assets than your future partner. 
  2. Your future spouse has significantly more debt than you do. 
  3. One of you is the owner of a small business that you do not want to lose in a divorce. 
  4. You have specific family heirlooms or other “special assets” – like jewelry, antiques or artwork – and you don’t want to risk them in property division. 
  5. You have a complex family situation, such as if both of you have children from prior marriages and you are now creating a blended family.

A prenuptial agreement can be fairly straightforward, but you can also see how it addresses such important topics. For this reason, it’s crucial that you know exactly what legal steps to take when you’re drafting this agreement, talking to your future spouse or filing the paperwork. You certainly want to get everything in place well in advance. You also need to know how the prenup is going to affect your case if you are going through a divorce.