A prenuptial agreement can be a great way to decide how you and your spouse's assets will be distributed if you were to get divorced. While this may seem like you are planning for a divorce by getting a prenuptial agreement, most people use these to help solve complicated situations that would be tough to solve during divorce mediation. Here are some reasons why you want to get a prenuptial agreement.
Dealing With Inheritance
Is one person expected to get a large inheritance after a family member passes away? A prenuptial agreement can help decide what happens with this inheritance in the case of a divorce. While an inheritance would normally go to the person that receives it, even if they are married, things get complicated when that person decides to use their inheritance. For example, they may use the money to buy a home, vehicle, or other property that then becomes a shared marital asset. Even though it was purchased with inheritance money, the property would need to be divided in a divorce because it now belongs to both spouses.
A prenuptial agreement can help make it clear what happens with an inheritance and assets purchased with it. You may decide to give a smaller percentage to a spouse but not split things down the middle. You could also decide to make assets bought solely with inheritance would belong to the heir after a divorce.
Dealing With A Business
A business can become very complicated to split up during a divorce since there are many moving parts to keep the business working and support the employees. It is not reasonable to sell a business and split the profits from it 50/50 to make things fair because it will put people out of work as a result.
A prenuptial agreement can help come up with a way to fairly divide a business so that the business is not ruined in the divorce process. For example, the spouse that is not involved in the business can be delegated a specific percentage of the business in a divorce. This would prevent them from having control of the company and still allows them to receive some of the profits from it moving forward as a form of financial support.
As you can see, prenuptial agreements are not just for couples that think their marriage is going to fail. Work with an attorney to work out the details of your prenuptial agreement.
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