The Pros and Cons of Prenuptial Agreements

The royals are doing it, the celebrities are doing it... are you doing it? Prenuptual agreements, of course!

Some people may see prenuptial, or premarital, agreements as the anti-thesis to marriage, while others will say that they could save you heartache and money in the sad case that you do eventually part. Although no-one likes to conceive of their marriage failing, especialy in these early days, who knows what will happen to you or your partner over the course of your lifetime. Here are some pros and cons:

Pros:

• Peace of mind in case of unforseen events. Today 50% of marriages end in divorce, and even when one partner is much wealthier than the other, assets will be divided 50/50.
• If you have been married and divorced before, you may be wary of getting “bitten” again, pre-nups help you to feel secure and worry free.
• Protects inherited assets, especially those you wish to pass to children, more so if children are from previous marriage.
• Pre-nups protect things like your family home, holiday home or business in case of divorce.

Cons:

• Spoils the romance, can engender a lack of trust in the relationship.
• Could make the less wealthy partner feel inadequate.
• If one partner contributes in a non-financial way to partnership (eg. raising children) this is not recognised as a financial asset within a pre-nuptual agreement.
• May be hard to come to practical and level headed arrangements during the “honeymoon” period of a relationship. If so, post-nuptual agreements can always be made.