Pre-Nuptial Agreements

A pre-nuptial agreement is a contract between two people who are going to be married. The exact terms of such an agreement will vary with the needs and desires of the parties. While pre-nuptial agreements are very unromantic, they serve an important purpose. Most often this is to identify the separate pre-marital property of the parties. This once really only was an issue for people on their second or third marriages. However, today more people are entering into pre-nuptial agreements for their first marriage. This is because people today are delaying marriage far later than a generation ago. Today the median age for a first marriage is almost 29 for women and almost 31 for men. This means that, more often than not, one or both parties to a first marriage have significant pre-marital property. This often includes a 401(k), an IRA, other investments and sometimes even a home. On the other end of the spectrum, there also are more second and third marriages because of the high rate of divorce as well as longer life expectancies. In all of these circumstances a pre-nuptial agreement may be a prudent choice.

I did not write many pre-nuptial agreements during the first 20 years of my career. However, over the past decade I have seen a significant increase in the number of people who have come in for me to prepare or review a proposed pre-nuptial agreement. Many of these clients are in their late 20s or early 30s and are looking to protect their piece of the American dream, or their fiancé is looking to do so. Often they have a retirement savings, or some asset(s) that they have inherited, which they want to protect in case their marriage does not go as planned.

I approach writing pre-nuptial agreements by keeping in mind that my client is in love with the other party and that my job is to make sure that if the marriage fails, the property addressed in the pre-nuptial agreement will not be a source of a dispute or controversy in the divorce. This means careful and clear writing and terms that will provide the necessary guidance and legal protection in the unfortunate event that this love story does not have a happy ending. For this I apply my extensive matrimonial, real property and litigation experience to anticipate issues and points of potential dispute and then draft an agreement that addresses these fairly and adequately.