Why is a premarital agreement a good idea?
One in three of all first marriages end in divorce, as well as 50 percent of second or third ones. A premarital agreement is smart financial planning, since marriage is not just an emotional and physical union – it’s also a financial union. A prenup and the discussions that go with it can help ensure the financial well-being of the marriage. It is like an insurance policy – you hope you won’t need it, but in a divorce it may help eliminate some of the emotion that’s naturally involved. A fairly negotiated premarital agreement can provide some reassurance to the wealthier spouse as to the extent of the financial impact of a divorce; at the same time it gives the less wealthy spouse some guarantee of his or her entitlement to a property distribution and/or maintenance upon a divorce. Couples without a premarital agreement will have their assets distributed for them by the state if the marriage ends and they disagree about who should get what. Without a premarital agreement, assets could
