Prenuptial agreement. Are they right for romantic couples?

For some folks, this can be a scary proposition.  You may be in a situation where you have considerably more money than the person you are marrying or perhaps know that you will someday come into a substantial amount of money from an inheritance or trust fund. 

The thought may have crossed your mind to ask your fiancé to sign a prenuptial agreement, or maybe you have been asked to sign one by your fiancé. 

By definition, prenuptial agreements are almost like predicting failure.  Nobody can say “I know we’ll be together forever honey, but just in case we’re not will you please sign this?” with a straight face. 

People need to be realists too, however, and if you know you’re in a situation where you have the potential to be completely devastated financially by a messy divorce then maybe it is time to have a lawyer draw up some papers. 

Know that prenuptial agreements can also clarify other things too, such as how much money a person will get from a divorce settlement dependent upon the conditions of the divorce.  For this reason, if you are signing a prenuptial agreement you can specify certain items you would like placed in the document. 

For example, you can specify that if your spouse initiates a divorce to leave you for someone else you get additional financial considerations. 

If you are offended from the very beginning with the idea of signing a prenuptial agreement yet your fiancé insists upon it you should take a look at his motives.  Perhaps his family is forcing him to have a prenuptial agreement since he will someday inherit the family business and therefore the entire future of the family rides upon the idea of him not losing all his money in a divorce. 

If the big picture doesn’t reveal to you a valid reason for a prenuptial agreement, though, you might want to take a closer look at exactly why your fiancé feels compelled to enter into a marriage that he does not feel completely secure in.