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.