Why do you need a premarital (prenuptial) agreement?

Quite simply premarital agreement is necessary, to protect your property for your children or your heirs. Marriages, especially second marriages, may have problems when they end by death or divorce. If you have properly planned for, and contracted for, the handling of your property, your heirs will get what you have planned for them to receive.Failure to properly plan ahead, however, may invite disaster. When a person with children remarries a spouse who also has children, sharing emotions is sometimes easier than sharing money with a new spouse. If a husband and wife have not discussed the handling of their property prior to their marriage, this may later result in a conflict between the spouses or between a surviving spouse and the deceased spouse’s children. Many people who remarry want to make a commitment to their second husband or wife, but they also want to make sure that their children are protected as well.
Basic and simple planning can avoid a lot of headaches during your lifetime. It can also avoid headaches and heartaches for your children after you are gone. The need to plan, and to consult, applies to nearly all of us, not just the well to do.
A Premarital Agreement is an agreement between prospective spouses, made in contemplation of marriage. The Agreement becomes effective upon marriage. The Premarital Agreement should be discussed by the parties well in advance of the marriage. Sufficient time should be permitted to allow both parties to consult their separate legal counsel and to sufficiently consider the Agreement. Otherwise, one party may later claim that the Agreement is unenforceable because it was misleading or signed under pressure. The Agreement is generally unenforceable if it was signed after the marriage ceremony.
A prenuptial agreement is a private agreement between two parties who are intending to marry that sets forth the distribution of assets (and debts) that will occur in the event of the parties’ divorce or death.
Among others, this prenuptial agreement form includes the following key provisions:

• Separate Property: Identifies the property that is solely that of the individual spouse
• Shared Property: Identifies the property that will be shared between the spouses
• Determination of Type of Property: Declares how other property will be divided amongst the spouses
• Alimony, Support, and Maintenance: Clarifies payments that will be made should the marriage end
• Wills: Describes the wills of the spouses and what provisions will be included
• Additional Clauses: Provides room for the spouses to make additional provisions