No couple wants to think about a potential split before they’ve tied the knot. However, if you or your partner own a business or if you are wanting to safeguard your assets, you may decide to pursue a prenuptial agreement. Do you need to hire an attorney for a prenup?
While you can go without one, it’s safer to hire an attorney to ensure your prenup is valid. Hiring a Louisville attorney for each party will help make sure that your prenup fits everyone’s needs and stands up to any future legal issues in Kentucky court.
Why should you get a prenup?
Under state law, spouses share ownership of property acquired during a marriage, and both have the legal right to that property. If the couple chooses to divorce, the court will divide property equitably based on separate v. marital property, unless noted otherwise in a prenup.
There are several reasons a couple may choose to get a prenup, including:
- Separate Finances/Assets — Certain kinds of property each individual owns during a marriage automatically become communal. A prenup helps determine which assets are communal and which assets belonged to an individual before a marriage, known as separate property. This could help protect a business and/or ensure premarital debt stays with the respective individual.
- Providing for Children — If you have children from a prior relationship, and want to set up plans for their care if you and your partner get divorced, a prenup can help protect their rights.
- Maintain Property Rights After Divorce — Kentucky is an equitable distribution state. This means property and assets will be divided based on what the court determines is fair and not equally. If you own a business, investments, or property, and don’t want to split those assets in the event that the marriage fails, you may want to hire an attorney to draft a prenup.
- Determine Financial Responsibilities — You can also use a prenup to plan financial decisions during the marriage, such as whether your accounts will be separate or joint, or whether your estate will benefit your surviving spouse if you happen to pass away first. These documents can help make sure that everything is handled in contract form, so that if the marriage dissolves for any reason, all details are well in hand.
If you’re planning on meeting with a Kentucky prenup attorney, it’s important that you have a basic idea of what you’d like to include in your agreement. Creating an outline of the terms that you’d like is a good way to make sure that the agreement is fair to both parties. Then the attorneys can help negotiate a contract that works well for everyone involved. Each individual should also fully disclose their finances, including their income and all of their assets, before the prenup is drawn up.
It’s important to make sure that you protect yourself and your future by working with a family law attorney for each party, so that your best interests are protected during the process of drawing up the prenuptial agreement. Contact a family law attorney today to learn more about how we can help you with this important process.