Reasons for Pre-Nups

 Posted on May 06, 2013 in Prenuptial Agreements

In the midst of planning your wedding, many legal experts say you and your future spouse should also be creating your prenup. A prenuptial agreement is a legal agreement between two people who marry that deals with the financial consequences should the marriage not work out. Every couple has a prenup in place when they get married – it's called divorce law. However there are many reasons why the laws of the state you may be living in if your marriage ends may not be beneficial to you. A prenup overrules those laws and is specific to you and your situation.

If you have more wealth than your partner, a prenuptial agreement protects your assets should the marriage end. It also is important if you earn a lot more than your partner does. It would limit the amount of alimony, if any, they could be awarded.

If your partner is bringing a high debt  into the marriage, a prenup will protect you from becoming responsible for those debts if the marriage ends.

If you plan to put your career on hold in order to raise children, a prenup protects you and ensures that the financial burden of raising the children is shared fairly by both partners.

Another good reason for a prenup is protection if you own a business or part of a business. Without an prenup, your spouse could end up sharing ownership of that business.

A prenuptial agreement is especially important if this is not your first marriage. If there are children from a prior marriage, property and other assets, a prenup protects those assets for your children. Estate planning is another issue that can also be addressed in the agreement.

If you are considering a prenuptial agreement, it's important you have your own qualified Austin family law attorney to represent you in any of the agreement negotiations.