Remember Your New Year’s Resolution And Sign A Prenuptial Agreement

Other people are hastening to contact divorce lawyers on Divorce Monday, the first business Monday of the year, but you have other plans.  You and your partner are sure that you want to stay together forever, but you are worried that marriage is a recipe for conflict over finances.  You can avoid a lot of these problems by signing a prenuptial agreement.  Once the paralegal secretaries have briefed the lawyers on all the Divorce Monday emails that flooded their inboxes at the beginning of the year, you should contact a law firm to find out the various ways in which a prenuptial agreement can set you on the path to a marriage characterized by honesty, fairness, and understanding.  A Birmingham prenuptial and postnuptial agreement lawyer can help you formalize the agreements about finances that you and your partner wish to make before getting legally married.

Protecting Your Spouse From Your Premarital Debts

Prenuptial agreements are increasingly popular with young couples; people below the age of 35 account for nearly half of all parties to recently signed prenuptial agreements.  Debt is ubiquitous for Americans of working age, and for those who have never been married, fears of mingling their debts with their partners’ debts are a reason why some young people hesitate to get married.  In a prenuptial agreement, you can designate certain debts as nonmarital, just like you can do with some assets.  For example, you can agree that, if you borrow money to pursue a graduate degree during your marriage, your spouse will never be responsible for the new student loans.

Ensuring That Your Marriage Does Not Affect Your Business Partnership

If you own a business jointly with one or more partners, your business partners might worry that the court will award a share of the business to your spouse in the event of a divorce, effectively making your ex-spouse an unwelcome business partner.  In your prenuptial agreement, you can stipulate that your spouse cannot claim a share of your ownership interest in the business if the marriage ends in divorce.  The company’s appreciation in value could be classified as a marital asset, however, so it could affect the amount of money you could have to pay your spouse in a divorce settlement, but at least the business will be able to continue to operate without input from your ex.

A Prenuptial Agreement Can Be a Cornerstone of Your Estate Plan

One of the most compelling reasons to sign a prenuptial agreement is to prevent family conflict during probate if one or both spouses has children from a previous marriage.  The prenuptial agreement can indicate what each spouse can and cannot inherit from the other; this could involve each spouse waiving the right to claim an elective share of the other’s estate.  After you marry, you should revise your will to match the conditions indicated in the prenuptial agreement.

Contact Peeples Law About Prenuptial Agreements That Have Nothing to Do With Divorce

A Birmingham family law attorney can help you and your fiancé draft or review a prenuptial agreement.  Contact Peeples Law today to schedule a consultation.