Who needs a prenup contract

When two people get married, they’re not just uniting their lives, bodies, and souls but also joining their financial assets and responsibilities. Surely, it’s a terribly unromantic fact, and probably the last thing anyone who just got engaged wants to talk about. However, being true to your partner also assumes to unpack all the important topics together. Moreover, when getting married most people expect to live together till the end of their lives (or loves), and there will be a lot of other issues on the way that could be challenging. 

Thereby, we encourage you to take a prenup as a valuable opportunity for you and your partner to create the laws that will rule your marriage. Otherwise, in the case of divorce, your state’s or country’s marriage legislation will govern the division of your assets and debts, as well as how spousal support will be handled.

Making a prenup together may be a nice warm-up to your future married life.  So, let’s get real in order to have a long and happy partnership. 

What is the prenup and why you should get one?

In general, a prenuptial agreement, or prenup, is a contract made by a couple before they get legally married. Usually, a prenup lists all individually and jointly owned assets (and debts) and outlines how the couple will divide it in case of divorce. We all hope these contracts are never needed, but if the marriage ends, they are there to make the separation easier for both sides.

How to initiate the prenup conversation?

Talking with your partner about prenuptial agreements could be difficult, especially at such a romantic time of your life. However, if you are the one initiating the topic, you should ideally raise it with your other half as early as possible, to give plenty of time to get used to the idea. Raising this issue with your partner eventually may not be as much of a big deal, as prenups have become more common, and your future spouse also may want one. 

Also, it gives you the chance to make sure you’re both on the same page regarding your future together – you can talk through your plans for children and their care, and what would happen if either of you struggled with health problems or long-term unemployment. It’s far better to test out how you both feel about these sorts of issues before you commit to each other, rather than afterward, and to do so in happy times.

Moreover, prenuptial agreements aren’t only useful in the case of a divorce. They’re also an opportunity to make legal promises about how your future life together will be organized and how you’ll take care of one another.

What is important to know about a prenup?

People don’t have to be a millionaire to want to make a prenup. It doesn’t matter how big is your wealth, you still want to protect it, right? It’s like with travel insurance, you really don’t think you will have to use it, but you feel safer when you have one.  Some people want a prenup to protect themselves from their partner’s debt or to ensure they get a sentimental family heirloom. For example, a ring that’s been passed down generations.

What to include in a prenup?

• Wealth, assets, or business that you wish to protect

The prenup should establish distinctions between marital and separate property, to clarify what happens in case you separate. For a business owner, the agreement can be particularly important to indicate if it should be considered a marital property, and how the assets of the business should be distributed in a divorce.

• Debts of both spouses 

Without a valid prenup, your marital property can be subject to creditors – even though the debt belongs to only one of the partners. Limiting your debt liability, instead of having each spouse owe half of everything, can substantially limit the stress of a divorce.

• Provisions for children from previous marriages

If you have children from a previous relationship, and you can use a prenup to ensure that they will inherit some of your property separately

• Establish alimony rights

It’s common for one spouse to earn more than the other or for one to stay home and raise children rather than follow a career path. In the prenup you can outline the amount to support one of the partners will get in case of separation and clarify the financial rights in your couple.

• Descriptions of each partner responsibilities

Not only does a prenup outline who gets what when the marriage ends, but also can include marital responsibilities, such as who will take care of different kind of expenses, how joint bank accounts will be managed, and even how disputes will be handled. It’s a great way to outline your marriage practical rules beforehand. 

Celebrity cases that make you think

Almost all the most expensive break-ups are down to not having a prenup. But it is also worth mentioning that some celebrity couples prenups are worth taking as an example. They particularly illustrate that a prenup can establish not just how to divide marital assets, but be about anything. 

For example, it is said that the Douglas-Zeta Jones document has a paragraph about how much money Catherine will receive if her husband is caught cheating.

Many of the celebrity prenuptial agreements involve money and divorce, which makes Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg’s prenup much more romantic and tender. Since running Facebook takes a lot of time, Priscilla has requested 100 minutes of alone time and one date night a week with her husband. During this time together, the couple cannot be on Facebook.

How to get your prenup with e-gree

Before making a prenup costed a lot of money because it involved lawyers from both sides. But now you have another option with e-gree.

The Prenuptial e-greement is for couples contemplating marriage who wish to have some assurances in place before their big day. The e-greement can be used to identify and define each person’s separate property and shared marital property, as well as determine how property will be distributed in the event of divorce or separation. It can also establish any ongoing financial obligations to the other in the form of spousal support, child custody or child support. It takes no more than 5 minutes to make the contract with e-gree and life happily ever after.