When you get married, you may have one large concern: your soon-to-be spouse seems to be struggling with debt. How do you prevent yourself from taking unnecessary debt if there’s a divorce?
A prenuptial agreement is a binding contract that couples sign before marrying, which intends to separate personal assets from marital assets should the marriage fail to work. Done right a prenuptial agreement can help protect each party’s interests in the event of a divorce. But do you need one?
Here are two valid reasons why you need to sign a prenup before tying the knot:
You are wealthier than your soon-to-be spouse
If your spouse has a huge debt at the time of marriage, a prenup can separate this from any debt you will accrue together while in marriage. This means that your spouse’s debts will not be your responsibility if the marriage ends in a divorce.
Likewise, if you are getting into a marriage with significantly more assets than your spouse, it makes sense to want to protect them. For instance, if you have a successful business at the time of getting married, you need to put measures in place to protect your business’ current and future interests. If you do not, and things go south, then your assets or business might be combined with marital property for division.
Either party has children from a previous relationship
If you have kids from a previous relationship, you need to protect their interests. And one of the best ways of doing so is by signing a prenup. This way, should the marriage end, personal assets that you have set aside for your children will not be up for division.
If you are considering getting married but also want to protect your assets and interests, you should consider signing a prenuptial agreement.
