posted in Prenuptial Agreements
on Monday, October 10, 2011.
Married couples in Connecticut know that saying “I do” is not always a guarantee of a life of bliss. Marriage is rarely without obstacles, and while some couples can overcome them, others have more difficulty.
When couples come to a stalemate over how to handle money, some suggest considering a postnuptial agreement. Some couples might shy away from the idea, assuming it will set them up for divorce, but legal professionals say it simply acts as a safety net in case the marriage dissolves. Working through the process of creating a postnuptial agreement can also help make a marriage stronger.
A postnuptial agreement is essentially the same as a prenuptial agreement except it is created after a marriage instead of before. Postnuptial agreements allow a couple to discuss and create guidelines around how they will handle their finances.
Postnuptial agreements can address very specific situations. For example, a couple can label certain assets as being either jointly or individually owned. It can also describe how money is spent on children from a former marriage, or detail what will happen to a family business in the event of divorce or death. Discussions can also focus on who will pay off debt as well as each spouse’s spending habits, and allows couples to set terms around all of it.
For some, an open and honest conversation about finances can help build a stronger marriage. For those who end up choosing to divorce, the process will likely be much more straightforward since many of the terms have already been set.
Source: The Huffington Post, “Why a Post-Nuptial Agreement Can Save Your Marriage,” Lynn J. Maier, Oct. 7, 2011