The event of marriage is an exciting time for individuals, though the idea of a
divorce in the future is not unheard of. With the divorce rate resting around
50% of all marriages, many couples though very in love, may choose to
fill out a nuptial form in the event of a future divorce possibility.
With so much talk of nuptial contracts on the news with the millionaire
celebrities, many people would consider this to be a taboo topic. On the
contrary, it is proving to be a means of proper planning for couples so
that in the future if they chose to divorce there is one thing less to
worry about.
The common form of a nuptial agreement is called a “pre-nup”
and this is a legal contract that is agreed upon by both parties prior
to their marriage day. Many times a spouse will chose to go this route
as a means of protecting their current property, inheritance, or wealth
in the event that the couple choses to separate later on. By filing for a
prenuptial contract, the couple will establish beforehand how the assets will be divided,
the benefits split, and the children’s custody as well as spousal
and child support will be handled. With divorces being so common today,
coming to terms with these details while still in the honeymoon phase
many times help make for a smoother divorce in long run.
A
postnuptial agreement is meant to address the same issues; the only difference is that it is
determined during the time of their marriage rather than before. A down
side to choosing this route would be that a couple must wait for a year
of marriage to pass before one spouse can choose to file for a postnuptial
contract. Again, filing for this in no way means that the couple is ready
to walk out the door on each other, it just means that they are choosing
to establish their agreements before the waters get rocky. Many times
addressing these harder topics can help a marriage because it forces the
couple to address what would happen in the event of adultery, moving on, etc.
Researchers are noticing that there is a growing trend of couples who are
choosing to file for post nuptial agreements, and a lot of times it is
actually the woman who are initiating it. Men still initiate more often
than the woman do, and yet in many circumstances it is a mutual agreement
for the contract to be discussed during the time of their marriage. Discussing
these different topics with a divorce attorney is a good step in order
to determine if you and your spouse would like to establish your divorce
settlement before choosing to divorce.
Contact Hutchinson Law for a Florida family attorney today for more details!