One of the most common regrets of divorced people is that they did not sign a prenuptial agreement. If they are still struggling financially, even years after their divorce, some blame the divorce court for awarding their ex-spouse a share of certain assets that never should have counted as marital property in the first place. Others claim that a prenuptial agreement could have prevented their divorce.
The good news is that recent cohorts of newlyweds have removed the stigma from prenuptial agreements. The younger generations see prenups as a practical guide to managing conflict about money, not as an instrument of people whose greed and mistrust make them doomed to fail at marriage. And they are right.
So, instead of worrying that your spouse will ruin you financially during your marriage or in the event of a divorce, why not simply sign a prenup? A Seattle family law attorney can help you draft a prenuptial agreement that addresses all the financial matters that could cause conflict in your marriage or during a divorce.
Though not a replacement for a comprehensive estate plan, a prenuptial agreement can also be useful should you or your spouse die. If you are considering a prenuptial agreement, read on.
Prenuptial Agreements Can Help You Keep the Peace
The most basic purpose of prenuptial agreements is to designate certain assets or debts as separate when, in the absence of such an agreement, Washington state laws could consider them marital. According to Washington law, in general, property that either spouse acquires during the marriage is marital property, and the debt that either spouse incurs during the marriage is marital.
If you are old enough to have acquired a substantial amount of separate property, then you should sign a prenup so that this property does not get mixed up in your marital finances. This applies equally to scenarios where one spouse is wealthier than the other or where both spouses are wealthy. Case in point, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West signed a prenup, and so did Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady.
These are likewise situations where a prenup can make your divorce less painful and may even be able to prevent divorce by bringing financial matters out into the open so there are no surprises later:
- One or both spouses owe student loans or other costly debts and want to protect the other spouse from liability for these debts.
- One spouse receives income from a family trust, which would cause tension in that spouse’s family if the beneficiary spouse did not sign a prenup designating the trust income as a separate asset.
- One spouse owns a business jointly with business partners and does not want to risk the divorce court awarding a share of the business to his or her ex.
- One spouse owns real estate property or other assets jointly with family members and does not want to risk the divorce court awarding a share of these assets to his or her ex.
Prenuptial Agreements Prevent Probate Disputes in Blended Families
If you have children from a previous marriage, you should consider signing a prenuptial agreement even if you are sure that you and your new spouse will stay together for the rest of your lives because divorce goes against everything you believe in. Consider the following example of two widowed people.
In some ways, those who have lost spouses and who have adult children from their prior marriages may appear to be the ideal candidates for what you might think is a divorce-proof marriage; their relationships ended on good terms with their first spouses, and they can do things even better the second time with the wisdom of age and without the stress of raising young children. This is the idea, anyway. You cannot, in reality, divorce-proof a marriage, and they could get divorced.
Even if this fictitious couple lives happily ever after, when one of them eventually dies, and the estate goes into probate, there can still be plenty of room for disagreement. Disagreement about what the surviving spouse and his or her stepchildren will inherit, even if the decedent wrote a will.
Writing a will as part of a comprehensive estate is better than not writing one, but it is even better if you and your spouse also sign a prenup. A caveat: The prenup and the will should match in terms of which assets the surviving spouse will inherit upon the decedent spouse’s death. One of the prenup provisions should also be that each spouse waives the right to claim an elective share of the other spouse’s estate.
You Can Sign a Prenup for Reasons That Have Nothing to Do With Money
From a legal perspective, a divorce is like the dissolution of a business partnership. By this logic, a prenuptial agreement is a business agreement. It is primarily an agreement about the ownership of assets and the responsibility for debts.
Prenuptial agreement provisions about children are not legally valid; if a couple with minor children gets divorced, the court reserves the right to make findings about the children’s best interests and to set a parenting plan in accordance with them. You can, however, include provisions about pets in a prenup since pets are property under Washington state law. You can also include provisions about other legal matters; for example, some Orthodox Jewish couples sign prenups promising that, if the couple divorces in civil court, the husband will not withhold a religious divorce, called a get, from the wife.
Given the above examples, it is easy to see that the rise in recent years in the usage of prenups is not because newlyweds are greedier, more cynical than they used to be, or afraid of marriage. On the contrary, marriage rates have risen since the pandemic. So, too, has the age at which people marry is increasing. Given these statistics, adults on the cusp of marriage tend to have more issues to consider and a potentially higher net worth. Thus, seeking a prenup becomes an effective way of being transparent with a prospective spouse about finances and other considerations, opening up important conversations before walking down the aisle.
Find a Seattle family law attorney to help you prepare for your future with a prenuptial agreement.
Despite numerous reasons why prenuptial agreements are so popular now, you may still be hesitant to pursue one with your spouse. At Elise Buie Family Law, our empathetic family law attorneys understand why you might not want to approach your partner about a prenup and guide you on starting that conversation.
With extensive experience in relationship planning, including the drafting of prenups, we are here to guide you in creating one to suit your individual needs. If you are married, we can help you draft a postnuptial agreement. Contact our Seattle team of family law attorneys today or schedule a time to talk using our convenient scheduling link.
