3 reasons for a postnuptial agreement

On Behalf of | May 31, 2018 | Uncategorized |

You did not use a prenuptial agreement when you and your spouse tied the knot, but now you have started thinking that was a mistake.

Life has changed. You do not feel the same way about the marriage. You’re both different people. You worry that divorce is not that far away.

You may still be able to use a postnuptial agreement. In many ways, it functions similarly to that prenup you did not use, except that now you need to get your spouse to sign it even though you’re married. Depending on the situation, you may both decide it’s a good idea.

Here are three potential reasons why people use postnups:

1. Wealth changes suddenly and drastically

For example, perhaps you both worked for outside companies when you got married, making roughly the same money. You didn’t think a prenup made sense.

However, your father died and left you his business. It’s worth millions. Not only do you now want to protect your new wealth, but you have to consider what is best for the company. You do not want any assets or any ownership to leave your family, even in divorce.

2. Your company finally became successful

When you got married, you already ran your own business, but it did not earn you that much money. You scraped by while your spouse worked.

In the last five years, your business exploded. You finally found the success you had predicted all along. You never worried about the impact of divorce on your company before, but now you do. Similarly to the first reason, you want to protect the company through a potential divorce. A postnup can do that.

3. You gave up your career

On the other side of the coin, maybe you both worked when you got married but then you gave up your career. You became a stay-at-home parent. Or, perhaps you had to move for your spouse’s career, and that meant losing your job.

Either way, now you do not have any income and you don’t know if you can get back into the workforce. The prenup can help you protect assets and ensure that you feel financially stable after a divorce, when you cannot count on your spouse to be the main breadwinner anymore.

Moving forward

These are just three examples, and couples use postnuptial agreements for far more reasons than we could ever list here. However, this still helps to show you the benefits they include and why couples utilize them when they did not care about prenups before the wedding.

If you are interested in a postnup, make sure you know exactly what steps to take. You need it to hold up in court.