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Prenuptial agreements are often misunderstood. What we hear on television and in the movies is that prenuptial agreements are for wealthy or well-connected individuals. We hear and see celebrities talking about prenuptial agreements. Prenuptial agreements are for any couple contemplating marriage. This is not a circumstance where only the wealthy benefit from prenuptial agreement protections. Likewise, you do not have to be old or young to benefit. In short, any person preparing for a marriage can benefit from a prenuptial agreement.
Many of you reading this blog post are not considering protecting yourself as you prepare for marriage. The reason is that you have your mind in other places. You are planning a wedding, inviting guests, and thinking about the next stage of your life. These are all normal thoughts to have as you approach a marriage. However, it is also critical that you think about other areas of your life. All the fun associated with planning a wedding can go up in smoke when you realize that there are major issues in your life to sort out. A wedding lasts for a night. However, the planning associated with the prenuptial agreement can increase your quality of life for many years.
In today’s blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, we are going to discuss prenuptial agreements. Specifically, how a prenuptial agreement can help you and your spouse-to-be plan for a happy and productive marriage. Any questions that you have about the subject matter contained in this blog post can be addressed to the attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. We offer free-of-charge consultations six days a week.
Prenuptial agreements help define your financial future
Many of us head into marriage with some degree of concern regarding our finances. Formerly, we had only our finances to be concerned with. However, now that you are preparing for a wedding you have your finances plus those of your spouse to be concerned with. This can leave you feeling uneasy. Or, if your spouse is successful, you may be worried about how he or she will view you and your income during the marriage. No matter what your specific financial circumstances are you need to be prepared with a plan.
Prenuptial agreements are important tools that you can utilize to solidify your financial circumstances before marriage. Instead of finding yourself in a position where you have more questions than answers a prenuptial agreement can help to position your family for success moving forward. Many times, people enter into a marriage having never thought about their finances in detail. Like many things in life, your presumption may be that everything will work out just fine if you and your spouse love each other enough. While this is a positive outlook to have regarding marriage it unfortunately is not always the case.
The attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan can tell you that even the most loving couple can find themselves in difficult financial straits. As a result, those difficult financial circumstances are enough to sink an otherwise healthy relationship. If you want to avoid this possibility and increase the chances of your marriage going the distance please reach out to the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. Our attorneys can help you negotiate a fair and equitable prenuptial agreement.
What can a prenuptial agreement do for you?
Now that you know more about a prenuptial agreement it is worth asking what one can do for you. Ultimately this is the question you need to ask yourself. All this positivity surrounding a prenuptial agreement doesn’t mean anything unless it benefits you and your spouse-to-be. With that said, let’s go under the hood on these prenuptial agreements to see what they can offer you and your fiancé.
For starters, a prenuptial agreement offers peace of mind. In this world, we have so much that can go wrong. The more complicated and involved our lives are the more that can go wrong. Sure- the same can be said for things going right but that’s not how our minds work. For whatever reason, our minds automatically go to the bad. We think about our happy marriage going south rather than envisioning a situation where the marriage stays on the straight and narrow.
A prenuptial agreement puts up some guardrails. It establishes a plan for what happens if the marriage cannot be saved for whatever reason. Having a plan of time for determining issues related to finances is important. Do not underestimate the benefit of negotiating a difficult subject with your spouse when you are on good terms with him or her. If nothing else, this prenuptial agreement offers a solid idea of what your life will look like in the event of a divorce.
Debts, spousal support, and property division
Lest we overlook them, divorce must consider marital debt division. We like to think about life as just being about property and assets. However, in your life (as in mine) there are debts to consider. Debt is a way of life for 99.9% of adults. We are more comfortable with taking on debt than any generation before us. As a result, we have creative ways to bring debt into our lives. A prenuptial agreement can create a plan for how debt should be divided in the event of a divorce.
Spousal support is a major concern for people going through a divorce. If you are not planning on working during the marriage this puts you in a position where you may need to ask for spousal support. On the other hand, as a spouse who may have to pay spousal support, this is an intimidating situation, too. How much will you have to pay? For how long? Why not negotiate a number during your prenuptial agreement talks? That way you have one less thing to worry about in the event of a divorce.
Finally, property division is a complex subject that is usually difficult emotionally. Texas is a community property state. This means that you should expect to have to divide up property and debt accumulated during the marriage. This is more difficult than you may imagine, however. Now is your opportunity to discover a plan geared towards fairness. Disclosing all your property and debt is the key to this discussion. If you can be honest with yourself and with your fiancé then you have a good chance to work out a fair agreement.
Prenuptial agreements clearly define separate property
Separate property is any property that is not community property. For the most part, separate property falls into three categories. The first is property you or your spouse owned before your marriage. Next, you have property acquired by gift in the marriage. Third, property that you acquire by inheritance during the marriage is separate property. Otherwise, the property you own or acquire during the marriage is determined to be community-owned.
One of the most difficult aspects of a divorce is figuring out a way to divide property. That is, once you determine what is community property and separate property. Your separate property cannot be divided by a judge in the event of a divorce. Many people choose to designate certain property items or debts as separate property. This removes them from consideration in the divorce for purposes of division.
Defining community versus separate property ahead of the marriage is sensible. This takes a lot of work to make these determinations. The earlier that you can work to make decisions in this regard the better off you will be, Do not take anything like this for granted. If you are presented an opportunity to divide up your property in advance of a divorce then you should consider that.
Can a prenuptial agreement be thrown out in court?
There are ways that a prenuptial agreement may be thrown out in court. Many people decide to negotiate prenuptial agreements because they protect them. That is certainly true. However, in some situations, the prenuptial agreement will not be seen by a court as valid. A prenuptial agreement is not always well drafted. Additionally, the agreement may not be negotiated fairly. Let’s consider a situation where your fiancé did not share all the necessary information with you about his life.
Disclosure of information is critical for the enforceability of a prenuptial agreement
Transparency is critical when you and your fiancé negotiate a prenuptial agreement. Do not assume that your spouse is going to withhold information so you can do the same. Rather, enter into negotiations with a clear mind. Decide to share with your spouse-to-be everything you know about your finances. Not only will it help you negotiate a better deal but it can also help you learn more about your fiancé.
When you or your spouse fail to disclose all relevant information that is when problems arise. If your spouse purposefully omitted information or lied about something that is a major problem. The failure to disclose important information in the negotiation session can be enough to invalidate the agreement. Where this ends is that you are looking at a situation where a judge must throw out your prenuptial agreement.
After all the work you put into negotiating the agreement the last thing you want to see is that it is unenforceable. An unenforceable prenuptial agreement is not worth the paper that it is printed on. A family court judge cannot use an unenforceable prenuptial agreement. Therefore, your efforts would go out the window. New negotiations would need to be started during the divorce. This is where bad blood and acrimony can sink your negotiations. Remember that prenuptial agreement negotiations occur while you and your fiancé are on good terms with one another.
Talk to an attorney about what you need to discuss in your negotiating sessions
Want to decrease the likelihood that your prenuptial agreement is found to be unenforceable? Talk to an experienced family law attorney before beginning the negotiations. If you and your fiancé both have an attorney helping you then it becomes increasingly unlikely that your agreement would be found unenforceable. Judges look at having an attorney as a sign that you and your fiancé both understood what you were agreeing to.
When it comes to fraud overturning a prenuptial agreement having an attorney helps. For one, when you have an attorney it is unlikely that fraud plays a major role in the negotiations. People expect that an attorney will be able to determine what is truth and what is a lie. Exaggerating something to induce your fiancé to sign the prenuptial agreement is a bad move- especially when an attorney is involved. The better your representation the better your prenuptial agreement is likely to be.
Contact an attorney with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan today. We can schedule you for a free of charge consultation as soon as possible. It is a great sign when you and your fiancé are thinking about the future and your options as far as a prenuptial agreement. Even if you are not excited at the idea of negotiating a prenup, why not contact us? We can help you to understand what you are potentially getting yourself into. Knowledge is power in the law.
Approaching a prenuptial agreement negotiation with honesty and fairness
Make up your mind to be forthcoming with your fiancé about the details of your negotiating session. Entering into a prenuptial agreement negotiating session with an intent to lie or withhold information is a major problem. Remember that this is the person you are about to marry. How would you feel if he or she tried to do the same thing to you? Probably not great. Why not act in a way that is intended to help both of you arrive at a beneficial outcome?
One of the great parts of negotiating a prenuptial agreement is that you are getting your fiancé when he or she is happy with you. Divorce negotiations are troublesome. The two of you are on each other’s last nerves. It is frustrating to have to talk about your finances with a person you do not get along with. However, that is exactly what you are called upon to do in a divorce. Avoiding that outcome is exactly why negotiating a prenuptial agreement is a great circumstance to take advantage of.
Ultimately, the actions you take regarding the negotiating of your prenuptial agreement will come back to impact you. It is not common that a person who is untruthful in these negotiating sessions never has their lies come back to haunt them. It may be years down the road, but those lies tend to rear their ugly heads at some point. Depending upon the significance of the lie, it could lead to a divorce.
Looking at prenuptial agreement negotiations as premarital counseling
All of us come from different backgrounds when it comes to talking about money. For some of us, money was freely discussed healthily. Others spoke about money but in general tones. Still others spoke about money at home. Whatever your particular situation is it is critical to acknowledge where you are coming into your relationship. An inability to speak about these issues can bleed over into other areas of your marriage.
If you can be honest about your finances then there is no end to what you and your fiancé can work through. The attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan look at these negotiations as a form of premarital counseling. This used to be something that men and women would go through together in a church environment. As that occurs less these days the purpose is still important. Developing communication skills- even in the face of unpleasant topics.
For that reason, don’t approach these negotiations as something that can only benefit you financially. There are emotional and relational benefits, as well. Talk to people that you may know who have gone through these negotiations. Don’t just take our word for it. Many people have experienced a benefit to their finances and their marriage through prenuptial agreement negotiations.
Final thoughts on how much a prenuptial agreement can protect you
A well-drafted prenuptial agreement can help you and your fiancé tremendously. Whether you want to protect your fiancé from your debt or plan out spousal support, there are a range of benefits to negotiating a prenuptial agreement. You need to consider your circumstances and assess them based on your criteria. This will help you to prepare for what matters most to you and your fiancé.
Thank you for choosing to spend part of your day today with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. Our experienced family law attorneys are here for you and your family. We post unique and informative blogs each day of the week here on our website.
Questions about the material contained in today’s blog post? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan
The attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan offer free of charge consultations six days a week in person, over the phone, and via video. These consultations are a great way for you to learn more about the world of Texas family law. Before signing a document or negotiating on a subject you do not know well, contact our office. We look forward to the opportunity of serving you during an important part of your life. The Law Office of Bryan Fagan is on your side.
