Nobody thinks about divorce when they are looking to get married to the love of their life. It is the reason why many couples do not consider prenuptial agreements. However, it is essential to create plans to manage your finances and property for the future.
A prenup determines the assets and debts of each party and how they will be divided in the event of a divorce. You must include specific topics in your prenup agreement. A Massachusetts divorce lawyer can help you better understand prenups and what they contain.
Prenup agreement checklist
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Premarital assets and debts.
Your prenup agreement should include how the assets and debts owned by each party before the marriage will be treated after the wedding. For example, if the husband owns a Mercedes, will the wife jointly own it? A prenup can also help if one party has significant debts so that in case of a divorce, the burden of the debt does not fall on the other party.
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Dependent children.
If you already have children from an ex or your current partner, a prenup can determine which child gets which assets. This helps protect the financial inheritances and determine the child’s property rights in case of a divorce. However, you cannot include topics like child custody, visitations rights, or child support.
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Marital assets and debts.
Couples often buy things together after getting married, such as a vehicle, furniture, TV, etc. To avoid conflict during separation, you must include marital assets and debts in your prenup. It can clarify which marital asset belongs to which party.
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Responsibilities of each party.
If you think a prenup only separates your assets and debts from your spouse’s, you may be wrong. A prenup can also be used to determine what each of your responsibilities in the marriage are, for example, who pays which bills, filing tax returns, how bank accounts are managed, investments, etc.
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Work.
If you and your spouse are employees in a company that may require you to transfer to a different place, you must state your expectations regarding work and income in your prenup agreement. For example, whether your spouse will stay home with the kids or leave their job to move to a different place with you. Not discussing such topics can produce conflicts later.
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Family heirloom.
If you own a particular piece of property that was given to you as an heirloom or other inheritance, you may want it to remain on your side of the family. For this, you must ensure to include it in your agreement to make sure the property gets passed to your biological kids or other blood-related relatives.
Even the word “prenup” can potentially give birth to arguments and tension between you and your spouse. However, as a responsible person, you must know how to protect yourself financially. Getting swayed by your emotions will only cost you later.
