Yes, You’ve Already Got a Prenup: Here’s Why You Need a Customized One
Every Married Couple Has a Prenup.
A prenup is really just a set of rules that defines your financial relationship both during and, if necessary, after marriage. You either write your own prenup, OR you are accepting the default prenup written by your state.
Here’s the thing – If you had to actually sign the default prenup – like if the default prenup were sitting there next to a customizable prenup, and you had to choose one of them to sign, nobody would pick the default prenup? Why?
The Confusing Nature of the Default Prenup
It’s confusing. Our entire lives, if your name is on an account, you own it. If your name is not on an account, you don’t own it, it sounds silly it’s so obvious to say. But once you get married, the default prenup says whose name is on an account or a piece of property doesn’t matter – that no longer defines who owns what. Your paycheck is considered joint property. Everything you buy with that paycheck is joint property.
And of course, the money you earn during your marriage is going to get mixed in with everything you already had coming in – some of your paycheck goes into your checking, your savings, your retirement, your condo, your car, your business. Now everything you owned coming in is mixed with marital property and it’s all up for division.
Modern Relationships and the Default Prenup
This is why nobody would knowingly choose the default prenup – it doesn’t work for modern relationships. If this were the 60s and you’re getting married at 20 years old with 50 bucks to your name, it’s not a big deal for everything to get mixed in one bucket of marital property. But if you’re getting married at 30 and you’ve got bank accounts, a car, credit cards, student loans, a retirement account, maybe some stocks or a business, then it usually makes more sense to have 3 buckets of property: mine, yours and ours.
The Role of a Customized Prenup
That’s what a prenup does – it draws the boundaries between mine, yours and ours. So if you’re getting married, recognize that you’re signing a contract either way. You don’t have to forfeit everything you earned before your wedding to build a life together. Getting your own prenup allows you to decide what belongs to you, what belongs to your spouse, and what belongs to you together as a couple.