Growth in Prenups

Summary:

The article I found was based off of the popularity of prenuptial agreements. In the article it discussed the goals of marital agreements, the ways nuptial agreements and marital charters are similar, marital charters, and differences between marital charters and nuptial agreements. The article also talked of different examples of how marital charters can be beneficial and how to prepare one. This article attributed that some of the goals of people searching for a marital agreement is that children from a new marriage do not acquire something that is not rightfully his/hers. Also along with this idea is the idea of “gold-digger”. Since second marriages are so popular, this idea of protecting what is rightfully yours has been growing and now more and more people are considering and obtaining nuptial agreements, whether they be pre- or post-nuptial. When discussing how to obtain one some of the different ways that this article mentions is for each person to hire separate counsel and rely on him or her for advice, or the parties can agree to have one attorney to draft their agreement. Considering a premarital agreement also became popular because it is viewed as a tool to help people become aware of all of the complex interpersonal, financial, business and legal challenges awaiting them and provide a safe, structured process for negotiating their interests. It is also said to help them feel more confident about their relationship and what they need from one another and even what they want from one another. In the section of this article where the similarities between marital charters and nuptial agreements are discussed, the subjects that are common to both types of agreements include, financial aspects of the relationship, roles and responsibilities of the parties, the relationship between the parties, relationships with others, how to handle unexpected situation, and the planning for the end of the relationships. However, nuptial agreements are usually focused on how the property is divided upon the dissolution of the relationship, whereas the marital charter deals with how to handle potential problems especially how parties will work together to ensure the success of their relationship and their assets, and appreciate the dependence of the financial and business success on the success of the relationship. When the differences were discussed in this article, one of the key points brought up was that nuptial agreements attempt to avoid future conflict by protecting someone’s financial resources whereas marital charters achieve the purpose by helping the parties achieve long-term clarity and stability in their relationship by reaching mutual understandings and agreements. The one important thing that this article finishes off with is explaining how marital charters pave the way for developing nuptial agreements and how this also is helping the popularity of the nuptial agreement to get stronger.

What was interesting/what did I learn:

I found it interesting how the simple fact of there being a marital charter which is different from a nuptial agreement to be the most interesting about this topic. It is not surprising that the rate of prenuptial agreements is rising. Although it is rising I was also interested in the idea that the negative perceptions of a prenuptial agreements are not a necessary factor. Most people who enter with a prenuptial agreement only do it because they want to protect their interests.

Question:

Do you think premarital agreements will be the death of our society because it makes divorce a more viable option?