by Stacy Francis, CFP®, CDFA
Over lattes today, my best friend reported that her friend was finally leaving the husband we all tried to tell her she never should have married in the first place. I am sure that you have a few girlfriends who you love in spite of their husband. Why do nice girls sometimes choose jerk husbands? Ok, I am digressing. This is a topic for another blog…
The friend was devastated by the divorce, my best friend told me, and her only consolidation was that she had made him sign a prenup.
We have all heard this story in one version or another. From A-list celebs to politicians and neighbors, divorces are far more common than we’d like to think they are. Conclusion: while drafting one isn’t exactly like a honeymoon trip to Maui, doing so may save you years and years of agony down the road. But what should be included in a prenup?
Put simple, the prenup should be a summary of how your assets (savings accounts, securities, houses, cars, investment properties along with anything else of monetary value) are to be allocated in case of a divorce. In the absence of a prenup, state laws will make these decisions for you. Though you may consider these laws favorable at the time of the engagement, they are ever changing, and therefore most people are better off settling things on their own. Not because lawmakers aren’t doing a good job – it’s just extremely difficult to generalize when each case is so truly unique.
