Non-Financial Benefits Of Prenuptial Agreements

Some people may not see the necessity of prenuptial agreements (popularly called prenups) because they are convinced that their relationships transcend money. Others also don't care for the agreements because they think their meager resources don't warrant prenups. You should know that a prenup is still useful because you don't know what the future entails, and the agreements aren't just about preempting monetary disputes. Here are three nonfinancial reasons for having a prenup:

Providing For Your Children

If you have children from previous marriages or relationship, you may be concerned for their future welfare if you die before them. For example, you may be worrying that the children from your current marriage or even your current spouse may block the children from your previous relationships from their fair share of your assets.

Using a prenup, you can easily make an arrangement to ensure such things don't happen. For example, you may set apart a portion of your premarital assets to go directly to your children from previous relationships. Just ensure the prenup is legally enforceable so the state can enforce it in the case of disputes.

Managing Marital Responsibilities

Marriage brings with it many responsibilities, some of which you may not like taking care of, but which have to be done. It is even worse if both of you have a disdain for the same responsibilities. For example, you may both have a disdain for filing taxes or settling bills.

Since you can't escape such things, the next best thing is to make a prior agreement on how or who will take care of them after marriage. For example, one of you can take charge of bill payments while the other files the taxes. That way you ensure that the responsibilities are all taken care of in time.

Settling Marital Disagreements

Marital disagreements are inevitable, but they don't have to tear you apart if you work through them. Unfortunately, some people aren't good at settling disputes. For example, some people prefer to head for the bar, sleep at a friend's house or even take a vacation if a big dispute arises, rather than tackle it head-on. To prevent such negative tactics of dispute resolution, you can include dispute resolution agreements in your prenup. For example, you can specify that any dispute must be resolved within a specific period of time.

Whatever you include in your prenup, make sure it is fair and legally enforceable. To do this, you need an honest discussion with your future spouse long before the wedding date. The state may demand two lawyers (one for each of you) for the prenuptial agreement, but even if this isn't the case, it is the wise thing to do so that nobody feels pressured when signing the document. Visit a site like http://rhslaytonlaw.com to find a lawyer to help you with your prenup.