Why 21st Century Couples Should Consider A Prenuptial Agreement
Marriage is a very complicated union that often times ends in divorce, for whatever reason. Currently, the rate of divorce in the United States is between 40% and 50%. Additionally, many couples are walking away very unhappy with their divorce. This frustration goes further than the divorce itself, but the division of assets and property. According to the law, when a married couple gets divorced, their assets and property are split in half and this may not sit very well with the parties in question. For this reason, many couples get prenuptial agreements before they get married.
A prenuptial agreement is a document in which both couples write down their assets and properties, and decide what they are entitled to if they were to get divorced. This procedure is recommended by many legal experts today. Though there was a point in time where divorce was a very taboo topic, it is now a convenient solution to a cold and dysfunctional relationship. If you are thinking about getting married but still wish to protect your assets and property in case of a divorce, continue reading because we’ll touch upon the various benefits of getting a prenuptial agreement.
A person or couple should seek counsel from a prenuptial agreement lawyer
about the proper means of going about this agreement. You don’t have to immediately visit an attorney, like most legal consultation sessions; you can begin writing the prenup before you come and see a lawyer. Though this legal procedure has been looked upon with contempt because of its vague nature, now, prenuptial agreements are accepted because of the high rate of divorce. But, surprisingly, there are many benefits, besides excluding assets and property from the divorce table, that can be advantageous to the couple involved. The following paragraphs will touch upon these benefits.
Many people get married more than once and have assets and property that they’ve acquired from their previous marriage. The law recognizes this aspect and provides a means of protecting these possessions from being dispersed out of the hands of the owner to the spouse during the divorce. There is a concept called the inheritance right, which is the right of a descendant to inherit assets or property at a point in time. If a spouse has children from a previous marriage, an agreed and finalized prenup can protect certain property from being seceded to a divorcing spouse that rightfully belongs to those descendants.
A prenuptial agreement lawyer will also inform you of how a pre-marital agreement can protect your business if you and your spouse choose to get divorced. By including your business in the prenup, your spouse will not inherit the business nor have control over it. This is actually quite vital to the divorce process because you will get to hold on to something that you may have owned or started before you married the spouse which you are now divorcing. Some would say that marriage is somewhat of a business transaction and the law recognizes this factor within the financial aspect of a marriage, especially ones concerning debt.
A prenuptial agreement also exempts debit free spouses from giving away assets to spouses who are in debt. A prenup agreement also protects the debt-free spouse from inheriting the debt of the other spouse which is beneficial because these sorts of things that can cause a strain on the newly formed marriage and the debt-free spouse’s assets will suffer because of it. Also pertaining to owning a business, a prenuptial agreement allows for monetary compensation; let’s say a business owner is getting married and he or she is planning on leaving their business when the marriage is finalized. If the marriage ends in the divorce, the spouse who left their lucrative business will get compensated for this loss.
It’s always wise to hire a prenuptial agreement lawyer and seek their counsel before actually going through with a procedure. As mentioned above, you can start writing your prenuptial agreement before seeking counsel, but eventually, you should see one. Experience is something that is very important to look into when searching for one; this should be an outstanding aspect because a lawyer with a lot of experience can really make a difference between knowing what’s best for them and not knowing what is the best course of action to take. A prenuptial agreement is seen as something that only the wealthy do, but in reality, this is something that many couples from all sorts of financial backgrounds do, due to this, when choosing a lawyer, select the one that takes your case seriously.
You should consider hiring a family lawyer, who deals with prenuptial agreements when drafting the document; they will show you the proper means of writing one as well as what to expect from your future spouse. These prenuptial agreement lawyers can also resolve disputes between spouses when there is a disagreement with certain terms that arise in the divorce.
There are many things that come about if you and your spouse don’t agree to a prenup; for the most part, your property will be left on the table for the courts to decide how they’ll be dispersed. According to the law, a marriage is seen as a business transaction, thus, both spouses have automatic property rights. If a prenup is absent during the time of divorce, property acquired during the marriage between the two parties as well as sharing the financial responsibilities.
A prenuptial agreement is something that should be strongly considered by couples expecting to get married because certain assets and property are protected from the separation. This agreement between both parties exempts certain things from being dispersed in the divorcing process. Both assets and properties from both spouses are written down and agreed upon outlining what is exempt and what is up for grabs during the divorce. Being that people have had previous lives and interests before getting married, certain things are protected in a prenuptial agreement that was present before the marriage. This aspect of the law recognizes people’s previous lives and protects them from the divorce; this not only shows respect from the parties involved but their possessions as well.
