Is a Prenup Really Worth All the Stress?

With only 15% of Americans signing prenuptial agreements, it’s no surprise to hear that many people are scared of doing so. People often worry that a prenup sets up their marriage for failure or shows that they don’t trust their partner. However, it’s a good idea to face your fears because prenups come with many benefits.

Prenups Help You Have Important Financial Conversations

Did you know that one of the biggest causes of divorce is financial disputes? A lot of couples go into a marriage thinking that their love can overcome all odds, but they are much likelier to have conflict in the future if they don’t agree on finances. As most divorce attorneys can attest, the most passionate arguments are often about how money is handled. By entering into a prenup, you can make sure you communicate about finances before marriage. This ensures that you and your spouse-to-be are on the same page about the difficult topics before you are legally bound together.

With a prenup, both parties can have a clear, informed discussion of their expectations for the future. You can learn about your partner’s financial values and find compromises in case you clash. Prenups often encourage you to think about a lot of questions that you wouldn’t have otherwise considered such as whether you would lend money to family or how much you want to contribute to your future child’s college fund.

The other perk of choosing a prenup as the time to have these financial conversations is that it’s a relatively stress-free environment. It gets a lot harder to be calm and logical when you have overdue bills or are frustrated with your spouse. Talking about it when you’re in love and feeling hope for the future is often the best time to craft solutions.

Prenups Protect Both Parties Equally

Many people worry about prenups because they think their partner can use it as an excuse to override their needs and take advantage of them in a divorce. Sound agreements don’t work this way though. In fact, if a prenup is too one-sided, a judge can choose to invalidate it in a divorce. A prenup is only effective when it’s protecting the rights of both parties.

The benefit of a prenup is that each person gets to sit down with their own lawyer and get detailed and personal legal advice. They can explain their priorities and get help ensuring that their needs are met. If one party has more money than the other, they can use a prenup to ensure they keep that money in a divorce. At the same time, the person with less money can use a prenup to ensure their non-financial contributions to the marriage are still recognized.

Contrary to popular opinion, a prenup is never about making sure that one party can prevail in a future divorce. Instead, it’s about assessing each person’s financial needs and finding a way to fulfill them. Since each party should have their own family law attorney go over the document, the agreement can be truly fair and equal. This helps to preserve your personal autonomy, so you don’t end up resenting your partner for taking over all your finances in the future.

Prenups Make It Easier to Trust Each Other

One of the most common concerns that people have about prenups is that asking for one shows that you don’t trust your partner to behave fairly in a divorce. However, this isn’t necessarily true. A prenup is actually an excellent opportunity to facilitate trust in your relationship because everything has been laid on the table.

Another benefit of a prenup is that it ensures nothing goes unaddressed Without a formal agreement, one partner might worry about things like, “What happens if I stay home to raise our children?” Since a prenup encourages you to talk about these sorts of concerns, it can foster a lot of trust with each other. You get to hear the things your partner is concerned about, so you don’t have to guess why they are worried.

This also allows you to take steps to reassure them and come up with solutions that have everyone’s best interests in mind. Many couples find that they come out of prenup discussions feeling more confident in the strength of their relationship.

Prenups Reduce the Risk of Family Conflict

In many cases, family conflict can put a lot of strain on a new couple. There can be arguments about things like who gets a grandmother’s engagement ring or ensuring that other cherished heirlooms remain in their family. Prenups are a very effective way of solving these types of conflicts.

In situations where there is a lot of money involved, prenups are always advisable. With a prenup, you can stop a lot of family drama before it starts. These documents allow you to ease concerns that family members might have, and they preemptively solve future arguments that could happen after a death or divorce. With just a small amount of time in a lawyer’s office, you can keep a lot of future family drama from ever developing.

Prenups Safeguard Your Business Interests

If either party owns a business, a prenup agreement is even more important. Things get a lot more complicated when your personal finances are tied to a business. In the event of a divorce, you could end up spending weeks trying to untangle personal and business matters and figuring out who deserves which assets.

A prenup is a quick and easy way to solve this problem. It can state that the non-owner spouse will not receive a share of control in the business. These agreements can reassure your business partners that they won’t end up with a stranger getting involved in company matters in the future. They even provide benefits if you don’t get divorced. For certain types of business insurance or LLC arrangements, this sort of prenup might be required by your other partners or investors.

Prenups Make it Easier to Avoid Unwanted Debt

When you get married, your assets aren’t the only thing that you share. Spouses also typically share debt. Even if your name isn’t on your spouse’s mortgage, car loan, or student loan, you might be responsible for part of it. Therefore, it’s very smart to also discuss debt when you’re figuring out how to create a prenup.

With a prenup, you can protect your spouse from ever having to take on your debt. The right document can ensure that you don’t have to worry about creditors coming after your spouse because of your financial decisions. It can also make it a little easier to resolve matters like bankruptcy. Your spouse can keep their property, so one unfortunate financial issue doesn’t financially devastate your entire family.

Ultimately, prenups provide enough benefits to make them unequivocally worthwhile. It’s true that you might need to have some difficult conversations, but a prenup is a great way to strengthen your connection with your partner. To make the process even easier, turn to the Law Office of Kelly Berton Rocco. Our team is happy to guide you through creating a sound agreement so that you and your loved one can have financial protection. To learn more about our Hackensack divorce attorneys, call 201-434-0078 or fill out our contact form.