Money and Marriage: Do I Need a Prenuptial Agreement?

It all starts out feeling so right. You meet a guy or girl, you fall in love, and you decide to get married. Questions like, "When should the wedding be?" and "Where will we live?" probably come to your mind. The question of, "Do I Need a Prenuptial Agreement?" probably never enters your mind. And why should it? You're in love with your fiancee, (possibly "in lust" too), and you're eager to share your life with him or her. Once you are married, you'll be sharing your property, money, other assets, and income too. And, if the marriage goes wrong, and you become a divorcee, as an estimated ten percent of the American population is, you could stand to lose more than just love. You could lose any property and assets you had before you entered into the marriage. This could have been avoided if you just would have asked yourself before the wedding,"Do I Need a Prenuptial Agreement?

A Prenuptial Agreement is basically a legal document that's created for you by a licensed attorney. This agreement usually stipulates that you will keep any property, money, and other assets that you brought into the marriage, should it ever end. Basically, a Prenuptial Agreement protects you so your ex-husband or ex-wife doesn't leave the marriage with more than they came with. Once a Prenuptial Agreement is signed, this document ensures that, in case of divorce, both parties will regain full ownership of their property, money, and other assets they had before their wedding took place.

You're the only person who can answer the question, "Do I Need a Prenuptial Agreement?" If you have any property, money, or other assets that are worth a moderate amount of money, then you should talk to your fiancee. He or she shouldn't have a problem with meeting with your licensed attorney and discussing a Prenuptial Agreement. Your legal representative can help you by drawing up a Prenuptial Agreement that will be completely fair to you both.

Of course, money isn't everything. For example, you may have inherited a house and some land when a relative died. Maybe that property isn't worth much money, but it holds sentimental value to you. Therefore, you wouldn't want to lose it or have to divide it up 50/50 in case your marriage ends in a divorce. A Prenuptial Agreement can protect all of your assets for you. It can also help make your divorce more fair to you, and property division easier to resolve.

You might be nervous about bringing up the subject of a Prenuptial Agreement to your fiancee- most people are. Even though you exclaimed "Yes!" when you wondered, "Do I need a Prenuptial Agreement?", the subject can be a tricky one.

Less than 10% of Americans who are married have a Prenuptial Agreement. Which is somewhat surprising. A survey revealed that a whopping 25% of divorced men feel they lost too much of their own assets to their wives when they divorced because they didn't have a Prenuptial Agreement.

According to The American Law Institute, if you're going to have your fiancee sign a Prenuptial Agreement, it should be written up at least one month before the date of your wedding. That way, you have plenty of time to read the Prenuptial Agreement and make sure it relays your wishes. That, and you'll have time to show it to your fiancee and talk about it.

Actually, you can put anything you want in your Prenuptial Agreement. Anything. You could state that, for example, you retain ownership to your pet Doberman named "Buddy". Especially in the case of a divorce.

But, be careful what stipulations you put in your Prenuptial Agreement. If you get too greedy, your fiancee can simply refuse to sign it, and maybe refuse to marry you too.