Houston family law clients are more often asking attorneys to prepare prenuptial agreements than have been drawn up in the past. Prenuptial agreements are also getting more imaginative in the wording and conditions, and individuals seemingly are more aware that their marriage may possibly end in divorce.
Generally, the more important clauses concern asset division and handling of finances should a divorce take place, and conditions regarding the raising of the children. With prenuptial agreements, couples have the input of placing within the contract language their own personal assessment of the value of certain assets. Without such agreements, each spouse is essentially saying that past, present and future wealth and assets will be shared when they take their marital vows.
However, prenuptial agreements are also increasingly setting conditions on matters regarding personal preferences as well. There are even clauses concerning weight to be maintained or hair color. However, many of these types of clauses are ones that couples may rather not live with into the future.
Though the presumption in the past is that prenuptial agreements will only be drafted for wealthy individuals, prenuptial agreements can be used by people of all economic classes. More than half of family law lawyers have agreed that the number of prenuptial agreements written up during the past three years has increased.
When drafting a prenuptial agreement, it would be a good idea to seek legal advice from an attorney to make certain that something is not overlooked. Though it’s easy for one to believe that they have a full understanding of what assets they bring into marriage, future assets are not always easy to account for and even present assets can be undervalued.
Source: WFAA, “Divorce lawyers see rise in nontraditional pre-nups,” by Shern Min-Chow, Oct. 17, 2012
