One of the biggest reasons that people don’t use prenuptial agreements is because they feel like signing the paperwork means they’re already planning to get divorced. And they’re not even married yet. They just feel like it starts the marriage off on the wrong foot.
But this is actually an incorrect way to look at prenuptial agreements. You’re not planning to get divorced just because you have a prenup. What you’re doing is looking at the statistics, understanding that divorce does happen and taking steps to protect yourself and your assets if that should happen to you. You’re planning for the future and putting yourself in the best possible position.
You still love your new spouse and you hope that you stay married and never have to use the prenup. That doesn’t change. But you know that you have the framework in place to ensure that a potential divorce isn’t devastating.
Think of it like a business
One thing to do is simply to think of your marriage like a business. If you were working with another company and your financial future was at stake, you would certainly want a contract outlining your business relationship. It would seem foolish not to have one.
But a marriage is a similar sort of legally-binding situation where two individuals are inherently connecting various parts of their lives and finances. And, in the same way, it’s important to have some sort of a contract that defines exactly how that’s going to work.
This may not feel like the romantic side of the marriage that most people like to talk about, but it’s still important, and you need to know about all the legal options that you have.