Setting the Prenup Up

The pre nuptial agreement is very prevalent in the United States but maybe not so common in Europe and the United Kingdom. That would appear to be changing. Maybe the mixes and cultural differences in marriages now lead to people being more cautious, but it is still a fairly difficult to ask someone to marry and then say you want an financial agreement in place in case there is a divorce.

That it is an exaggeration because these things take a while to deal with, but it is still something which has to be agreed in advance. If both parties are thinking along the same lines its fine and it may be that one was waiting for the other to bring the subject up. If however, the future partner is dead against it and sees the love of their life as a cynical money grabbing louse, then that could be the end of that relationship. S o tread carefully is the answer.

Lawyers are only too happy to draw up a pre nuptial agreement, but there are ways of ‘Doing it Yourself’, and you can get templates which require just the details filling in and then witnessing. But what is usually covered in a prenuptial agreement? Well, it goes beyond who keeps the CD collection and is more to do with assets and wealth. If at the very beginning you agree to share the costs of the house, such as the monthly mortgage. Then should there be a divorce then it’s not unreasonable to expect a 50% return. However, there are cases where one party has paid nothing towards the house, but has been responsible for its upkeep. The claim would still be 50-50 but that has to be agreed beforehand. The asset wealth includes things which you must agree to and this can include the family car or cars, the furniture, the household items and such like.

In the cases where one partner feels as though they have contributed in other ways such as a career success then that has to be also sorted out. It’s doubtful, but if you were a television star then your success has to be evaluated in terms of your partner’s contribution. But for most of us the pre nuptial agreement is something which is just an added security if the persons getting married turn out to be slightly less generous characters when things go adrift. If there is no agreement in place then it can all get a bit nasty and the only ones to win in those situations are the legal eagles. There have been cases where the pre nuptial agreement has been disputed and that leads to even further complications.

Divorces can be messy and emotionally draining enough with any extra hassle. So in most cases it’s more often the case that really you both want a clear definition of who has what and how things are split up. It’s never easy and the agreement put in place at the very beginning can be worth its weight in gold … well not quite.