Signing up for a Prenup

    
RANGE OF PRENUP ISSUES   
    
That’s the beauty of a prenup. Couples might just have different way of looking at what is normal or acceptable, says Turbeville. A prenuptial agreement can help them hash that out, she adds, and “can pretty much say whatever you want it to say.” 
  
A couple coming together, especially in a remarriage where the parties are older and have more and potentially different life experiences, might have big disconnects that they're not even aware of. Those can be addressed in a prenup.   

Ash has her clients view prenuptial considerations as potential major life changes that could affect the couple.  

“What if your career changes substantially and consequently your income changes?” she asks. “Or you take time out of workplace or take a lower-paying job or a different career path? How will you handle that as a couple?”

What about life insurance; who has it and who are the beneficiaries? What are your retirement time horizons and retirement vision? Do you each own a house? Which one will you keep? How will it be titled? Who gets it in the event of divorce or death?   

Then there’s the issue of children, both providing for kids from a previous marriage and any additional children of the new marriage.
   
Couples also need to examine prior assets brought into the marriage, as well as how any earnings (or losses) from a business the couple may start will be handled. 

“When I am talking to clients that are considering remarriage and are concerned about prenuptials, I often talk to them as using as an estate planning tool rather than a potential divorce tool,” says Turbeville.   

And while prenups are usually seen as a safeguard for a failed relationship, Ash says couples should consider including issues in the document that take into account a successful marriage.
  
“Will they feel the same way after decades together as they did when the relationship first started?” asks Ash. Possibly not, so they might want to include a graduated schedule of “rights,” i.e., if the marriage lasts five years, one spouse would get a larger percentage of certain assets.