As the sun starts to come out more and more in San Diego, we know that it’s summer and soon it’s going to be sunny all day long. Along with summer comes summer weddings and if you’re getting married this summer (or anytime this year) you might be thinking about a prenup in San Diego.
A prenup (also referred to as a prenuptial agreement or premarital agreement) is an agreement between future spouses that deals with everything from premarital assets/debts to how you want to handle income and assets/debts acquired during the marriage to what would happen when the marriage ends (either by death or divorce cause really all marriages end at some point, uplifting I know). Now I understand that nobody really wants to think about the end of their marriage when they’re happy and about to get married. Trust me, I understand, I’m married and doing our premarital agreement was not the most exciting part about getting married; however, I will go as far to say that it was one of the most important parts (the most important being the actually ceremony and marriage part of it).
Radiating Security: How Prenuptial Agreements Bring Sunshine to San Diego Couples
If you’re wondering why, it was one of the most important parts of our wedding and should be for you too that’s because a prenup in San Diego can help you feel more secure in your relationship and marriage. Now in media, prenups often get a bad rap and are looked at as something that you would only ask your fiancé for if you didn’t trust them and wanted security of your assets not being touched if you were to get divorced, however that’s not how I want to present a prenup in San Diego. A prenup can provide security (and sunshine) to you because it helps you and your future spouse know that whatever happens you’ve put together a plan that will protect both of you and make sure that you both feel secure in your future.
As a licensed attorney and certified mediator when I work with an individual or couple on a premarital agreement, I don’t just set it up to protect one of the parties but want to make sure that the agreement is going to protect and provide security for both people. Now this is important because it means that your agreement is more likely to be valid in the future and that your spouse isn’t going to try and fight the prenup down the road because they feel that they got screwed up in the process. Having a plan of how you want to handle things in the unfortunate event that your marriage doesn’t last can make you feel more secure in your marriage now.
Sun-Kissed Foundations: Building a Bright Future with Prenuptial Agreements in San Diego
Honestly besides education the most important part of putting together a prenup in San Diego is to build a strong foundation for your future marriage. This is because you and your fiancé are going to discuss all sorts of things that you may not have talked about before, from how much debt you have, to what you both make, to having children, to whether you have the same financial goals around saving and spending, to thinking about whether you’ll be taking care of your own parents or your in-laws financially in the future. Far too many people don’t have these difficult conversations before they get married and just assume that they’ll figure it out down the road and then they don’t know how to have the conversations and arguments ensue about finances.
By building that strong foundation of communication from the beginning you’re more likely to have a bright future with your spouse and continue to communicate about the important parts of your relationship. Good communication is a habit that if you don’t start early, you’re less likely to continue. Nobody wants to feel as though they can’t communicate with their spouse and have anxiety over what they say to their spouse and how they’re going to react but if you build that foundation from the beginning then you and your future spouse are more likely to have successful communication. Also, some of these conversations, if you haven’t had them already, are important topics to know where your fiancé stands on and in the unlikely event that you can’t agree on the prenup in San Diego you know that before, not after, getting married.
Sunshine State of Mind: Protecting Your Future with Prenuptial Agreements in San Diego
In addition to the security and foundation that prenups in San Diego provide, they are also important for protecting your future.
Anyone getting married would probably say yes to protecting their future selves and even their future marriage and that is in fact what a prenup in San Diego can help you do. That’s because the research has shown that couples with a prenuptial agreement are less likely to get divorced because they’ve communicated around the issues, built a strong foundation and feel more secure in their relationship. Now you might be thinking the opposite, that if you’re talking about divorce before you even get married aren’t you more likely to get divorced but you’re not because again you’re communicating about the hard things and while not everyone’s marriage is going to last with a prenup you’re less likely to have bad communication and fight about the things that most people fight about.
Premarital Mediation
If you are getting married this summer or anytime soon, reach out to us to discuss prenups in San Diego and how we can help you build a solid agreement.
By: Amanda Singer, Esq., MDR, CDFA®
