Why You Need a Prenuptial Agreement
The story of Mel Gibson and Robyn Moore:
When Mel Gibson married Robyn Moore in 1980, he was just beginning his rise to fame with his role in Mad Max. The pair split after 26 years of marriage, and it took five years for the pair to finalize their divorce. Gibson’s assets were worth $900 million at the time of divorce, and they had not entered a prenuptial agreement.
In California, all community property must be split 50/50, resulting in Robyn Moore receiving $425 million from the divorce.
Infamous celebrity stories of famous actors and actresses having to give a huge payout to their less-fortunate spouse after a divorce is all too common in Hollywood, but I’m going to tell you why everyone, not just the rich and the famous, should get a prenup.
The stigma around prenups has been lessened dramatically throughout the generations. A big reason for this is that more people are learning what the purpose of a prenup actually is. Many people have a misconception that a prenuptial agreement is a contract two people make who have no faith in their marriage and want to keep all their money from the other.
On the contrary, one of the basic agreements of prenups is that they must be fair and equitable. Of course, protecting your own assets is a very important part of prenuptial agreements, but prenups will not hold up in court if one of the parties will not be adequately cared for in a fair way after the divorce. For example, if a couple has been married for 30 years, one spouse should not expect to walk away from the marriage with 99% of the assets from it.
So what’s the point of getting a prenup?
Prenuptial agreements are a great way to save you a lot of headaches and financial strain in the case you and your partner do end up getting a divorce. If you enter a marriage with $5 million in assets, you can ensure that all the money and property you acquired before the marriage will stay yours even after a divorce.
In order for a prenup agreement to hold up in court, each party must fully disclose their assets and liabilities. This is crucial as it allows each party to know for certain that one party isn’t hiding away $1 million from their partner, or that one of the partners hasn’t racked up an insane amount of debt that you had no idea about.
Each party needs their own attorney before proceeding with a prenuptial agreement, and the prenuptial agreement must be finalized well in advance of the actual marriage date.
Do you have any more questions about prenuptial agreements? Let me know below!
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinefletcher/2018/09/18/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-prenups/?sh=28802ffa62ba
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