Your Post-Divorce Plan: The Importance of Prenuptial Agreements

Just the idea of signing a prenuptial agreement before marriage makes most client’s skin crawl. Anxiety mounts regarding presenting the idea to a fiancé or soon-to-be fiancé. Disappointment and concern arise for the fiancé who never raised the idea in the first place.

It is true that many married couples look back on the process of negotiating their prenuptial agreement in a negative light. For some couples, negotiating the prenuptial agreement actually breaks up the relationship. In others, the prenuptial agreement is viewed as a stressful, sad or frustrating part of an otherwise happy beginning to their marriage.

Newly engaged couples are therefore left with the question: Is there a “nice way” to go about negotiating and signing a prenuptial agreement? After over 30 years of practice as a family and divorce mediator and collaborative divorce attorney, I can tell you that yes, it is possible.

The Negotiation Process Makes a Difference

I believe the unhappiness with the process of signing a prenuptial agreement initially stems from a fundamental flaw in how prenuptial agreements are negotiated: I wrote previously about the importance of negotiating the terms of a prenuptial agreement together as a couple before anyone “presents a draft” to...