A Dose Of Dating Sobriety: Get A Prenup Just In Case A Divorce Happens

Surely you’re dating in order to reach one of life’s most fulfilling milestones: A wedding. After the wedding comes the marriage, and that’s when one of life’s most character-stretching series of seasons comes in. However, before you transition into the ultimate goal of your dating pursuit, you must think about one of the cornerstones of a marital relationship: Money.

Money, properties, and legalities may be some of the most un-romantic keywords to graze a dating relationship, but these must be dealt with. And the best time to face these three keywords is during the space of time between dating and the wedding: The engagement period. After the dating couple settles this rather unromantic aspect of the relationship, then maybe it’s time to happily proceed to the next step: The wedding.

The wedding is possibly one of the most pivotal events that demarcate so much in a person’s life. After the wedding comes “making a marriage work,” and after that comes “building a family.” In the stress and strain of pulling off a successful wedding, marital relationship, and eventually a family, a couple may find themselves caught up in a maelstrom of events. These events could actually fray the marriage that should have been the bedrock of the family.

Tragic as it may seem, divorce is the not-so-new normal for the typical American family. Some things just don’t work out as planned, and your marriage could be one of them. And so, as a couple, you should put your energies to making the marriage work. However, in the event that, in spite of all the effort you put into the marriage, things just don’t work out, you must prepare for the inevitability of divorce.

And this is where a good prenup comes in.

Many couples are allergic to the word “prenup.” They may mistakenly believe that “it’s only for rich people,” or that it “takes the romance out of the marriage.” On the contrary, it may be the one document that will save the relationship, even if it gets “demoted” to a state of civility or mere friendship, just so both parents can be at their emotional best for the children’s sake. Having a prenup allows the couple to divide their assets neatly, should a divorce happen.

A Prenuptial Agreement Is Non-Negotiable If:

• One or both parties hold a significant amount of debt. As you may already know, marriage binds both parties legally, and all their properties, liquid and otherwise, are consolidated into one entity after marriage. Delineating assets and liabilities through the prenuptial agreement allows the parties’ debts to be held as separate obligations via the prenuptial agreement.
• One or both parties have their own businesses. The prenuptial agreement allows for the protection of one or both parties’ existing businesses, making sure that the business, its assets and liabilities will not be a casualty of the divorce proceedings and subsequent division of properties.
• One or both of you have had previous marriages, and children from these previous unions. A prenuptial agreement will help protect the rights and properties of the children from the previous marriages, so that these will not need to suffer from the financial and legal fallout of a potential divorce from the upcoming union.

There are online forms available, and you can actually create your own prenup from a template or generator. In fact, there are legal resources available online, as well. So research, find a good lawyer to help you make the legal document legally executable, and get the financial side of your upcoming union out of the way.

Work On Your Marriage

Coming into a marriage may be tinged with a bit of romanticism and rose-colored glasses, but there always has to be some sobriety involved. Marriage is hard work, as Ben Affleck was quoted as saying, and this is nothing but the cold, hard truth.

Work on carving out time for each other, always keep contempt out of your marriage [more on Psychology Today], don’t forget to keep reading about what keeps a marriage healthy and apply it to your union, and enjoy your marital bliss!

Yes, the legalities have to be taken care of, but they don’t have to put a damper on your upcoming wedding and marriage. Just get them out of the way, work on your relationship, and cheers to never having to use up that prenup!