There are those who understand how beneficial a prenuptial agreement would be, but who still aren’t going to get one. In some cases, the problem is simply the way that they’re thinking about it or how they are looking at this legal document.
For example, people sometimes worry that asking their partner for a prenup is going to send a message that they’re already thinking about divorce. They think this will make the divorce more likely and the marriage less strong. But is that actually what happens?
A prenup protects both of your interests
A better way to think about a prenuptial agreement is as a legal contract. As a business owner yourself, if you were working with another company, you would clearly want to have some sort of contract in place. This would help to protect you in a financial sense. Clearly, you would hope that the business agreement would go well and that there would be no need for you to use the contract during a disagreement or a dispute. But having it in place gives you the assurance that you and your business are protected if that happens.
In the same way, a prenuptial agreement simply gives you financial protection if your marriage ends. It does not mean that you want to get divorced and it does not make the divorce more likely. Your spouse should not view it as a negative aspect of your relationship, and neither should you. Odds are that you will sign the prenup and stay married, meaning you’ll never need to use it. But if you do get divorced, it can be very helpful to know that you have that protection in place.
In fact, there are those that say a prenup can make a marriage stronger. It means you and your spouse know how to communicate and it means that you’ve spent at least some time talking about money. Since these are two common reasons for divorce, addressing them up front makes that less likely to occur.
Setting it up
If you’re interested in drafting a prenup, be sure you understand all of the legal steps you’ll need to take.