This is an important question to ask yourself: Should I sign a prenuptial agreement? Before you shout out “No!” because you feel it’s inappropriate for your betrothed to ask for one, here are a few things that you should consider.
A prenuptial agreement can protect the wealthier spouse in a marriage where both parties have vastly different incomes. It also protects the other, less wealthy party. Prenuptial agreement essentially separates your finances, so it’s possible that you could be protected from your wealthier counterpart making bad decisions and gathering debt.
If that’s not what the prenuptial agreement is for in your case, then there are some other reasons to get one. If you have student loans or your spouse has student loans, you can put a clause in your prenuptial agreement to keep those debts separated. You can put in clauses saying what happens during a divorce and indicate if either party will be accepting alimony in a divorce.
A prenuptial agreement also means that you don’t have to fight about the divorce. The settlement is made as you marry with information on what happens if your assets grow. This means that if you do eventually get a divorce, the settlement is already arranged and you don’t have to argue with each other over what’s going to happen. This protects you and your spouse; both of you are going to be more lenient and kind to each other now than you would in the case of the dissolution of your marriage.
These are just a few things to think about if you’ve been presented with a prenuptial agreement. It doesn’t have to be all bad, and you can have your attorney review it to make sure it’s fair.
Source: The Cut, “Should I Sign a Prenuptial Agreement?,” Charlotte Cowles, Dec. 22, 2016
