Prenuptial Agreement Lawyers in Spartanburg, SC

Before you tie the knot, you want to make sure you are protecting your assets. Though no one ever wants to anticipate that they will get a divorce, it is prudent to protect yourself just in case.

That’s where a prenuptial agreement (aka “prenup) can come into play. With this legal document, you can safeguard your belongings and protect your future spouse’s finances as well should you decide to split up.

Here, learn more about what a prenup is, what can and cannot be covered in it and how a family law attorney can help you write a comprehensive prenup that will hold up in court.

What Is a Prenup?

A prenuptial agreement is a legal document that will protect you and your spouse’s assets that you amassed prior to your marriage. It will also separate your debts you acquired before your marriage from those of your spouse’s and decide how you would divide your property if you were to get a divorce.

You and your spouse will sign the agreed-upon prenup prior to getting legally married.

When writing a prenup, you have to come forward about all your assets and debts. You should never lie or attempt to cover up any assets or debts, because then your prenup may not hold up in court.

For example, if you had a trust fund but never told your future spouse about it before they signed the document, it could be held against you in court. Additionally, one person shouldn’t feel like they were coerced into signing the prenup; that could invalidate it as well.

What Can Be Covered in a Prenup?

Assets and debts prior to the marriage, as well as financial matters that occur in a marriage, can be covered in a prenup. For instance, if you went to college and amassed student loan debt, that would be included in the prenup. If you owned properties when you were single and they were in your name, then that could be in the prenup as well.

Prenups can also cover areas such as retirement plans, savings contributions, separate businesses, managing credit cards and joint bank accounts and overseeing bills and expenses in the marriage. For example, you can decide if you or your future spouse will be in charge of paying the bills every month.

What’s also covered are property division that you or your spouse own when you’re married and spousal maintenance (also known as alimony) obligations. It can cover educational and religious instructions for kids who you bring into the marriage, protect you from having you to pay your spouse’s debts and protect your rights of ownership when it comes to your life insurance or disability policies.

What Cannot Be Covered in a Prenup?

Some of the things that cannot be covered in a prenuptial agreement include child support, legal decisions about your children, which spouse can sell their home or financial incentives for divorce.

It also cannot include personal issues like who is going to raise the children, who is going to do the chores and who will be going to work. There also cannot be waivers of rights to alimony or provisions that include illegal activities.

Writing Your Prenup

A prenup can be a sensitive issue between two future spouses. One person may feel ambushed and like the other person is predicting that they will get divorced. However, a prenup can be a positive thing for both parties as long as it’s done with the proper level of sensitivity.

When bringing up a prenup to your future spouse, make sure you talk about how it’s just a precaution to protect both of you. You can reassure your future spouse that you don’t anticipate you’ll get a divorce and that you love them fully and can’t wait to marry them.

If you don’t get a prenup, you could always get a postnup, which is the same except that you will sign it after you get married. It could be used if you and your future spouse are having financial issues, for instance, and you would both like a legal document to sort them out.

Contact Nowell Law Firm

To write your prenup or postnup and ensure that it’s completely legal, you’ll need to hire a family law attorney. If you don’t, and you do end up getting divorced, you could find out that your prenup or postnup are not legal and you won’t get what you need out of the divorce process. It is best to protect yourself by having attracted by a professional.

If you need help drafting your prenup and you’re looking for a lawyer to help you with it, contact the Mark Nowell Law Firm today.