Marital Agreements
Over the years, the Marital Agreement, also known as a Postnuptial or Prenuptial Agreement, has gained an incredibly bad reputation. It should be seen as a proactive legal document that sets clear expectations and protects the assets of family members. But it is now associated with wealthy, cynical couples who love each other in the moment, but know, with relative certainty, that they’ll be hiring divorce attorneys in the future.
To truly understand how helpful a Marital Agreement is to couples, families and even business partners, one must drop every pre-conceived notion of what a Marital Agreement is — and who benefits from it.
Here’s a list of people who may need the protection of a Marital Agreement:
- Spouses
- Homeowners
- Professionals
- Business owners
- Business partners
- Anyone entering marriage
- Spouses-to-be that already have assets, businesses, families and children
- Anyone previously married
- Couples who wish to keep their assets and finances separated
- Couples planning to move to a non-community property state
- Couples who move frequently
That covers a lot of people, right? But even more importantly, let’s go over what a Marital Agreement does:
- It addresses which spouse keeps certain property in a split
- It lays out who pays alimony, from how much to how long
- It clearly determines which person is responsible for paying debts in the marriage, including loans and credit cards
- It explains how to divide assets and property if one partner dies during the marriage
Let’s face it, as much as we’d like to think otherwise, anything can happen. So crafting an agreement that prepares for every scenario is both sensible and practical. At Vaksman Khalfin, we can work with you to develop a Marital Agreement that settles all your unanswered questions, so you can move forward with no doubt about what the future holds. In many cases, we do this in conjunction with amending or creating a Revocable Living Trust.