Do We Need a Prenuptial Agreement?

When you hear the term “prenup,” you may think of celebrities and people who are wealthy. However, a prenuptial agreement can be beneficial for almost everyone who is getting married. A prenup is a legal document that provides details for how a couple’s assets should be divided in a divorce. It can also address other specific divorce settlement terms. While some people are opposed to them on the basis that they predispose the marriage to divorce, a prenup can be a useful document for any couple.

What to Include in a Prenup

The prenuptial agreement has changed over the last decade. Today, you can include a variety of things that were not part of our world in the past. One of the most important functions of a prenup is to protect assets that you brought into the marriage or owned prior to the marriage. In Georgia, property that you owned before you were married is non-marital property. However, if the property becomes co-mingled during the marriage, you could lose out. Instead, you can maintain your financial interests by specifically listing your premarital property in the prenup.

You can include other details, such as how to resolve social media changes in divorce and who gets to keep the pets. Generally, you can include almost anything you like in a prenup. The idea of a prenup is to make a divorce easier, less stressful, and more amicable because you have already ironed out the details ahead of time.  Sometimes, a prenup includes a sunset clause. A sunset clause ends the prenup after a certain length of time if the marriage is still ongoing. For example, you may include a clause that ends the contract after a period of 10 years.

Postnuptial Agreements

A postnuptial agreement is the same as a prenup, except that it is a document that you put in place after the marriage takes place, rather than before. A postnuptial agreement can supersede a prenuptial agreement and is useful if your assets have changed considerably since you got married. A postnup is not a common document, but it is something you may want to put in place. A postnup can make a divorce less difficult because you can resolve issues during a time when you are both communicating with each other more readily.

It is helpful to get legal assistance when drafting and signing a pre or postnuptial agreement. It is a legal contract and, therefore, you should have it created specifically to meet your needs. A template document can be completely ineffective and may even be disputed in court. Your attorney will review your particular needs and design an agreement that includes the specific details that are essential in your case. At the same time, your lawyer will make sure that the document will be legally binding if it is ever challenged.

When you need help with a pre or postnuptial agreement, contact our legal team for assistance. A Columbus divorce lawyer at Moffitt Law, LLC will assist you with all your family law needs.