Post-Nuptial Agreements
A postnup, like a prenup is intended to protect the financial interests of both spouses in the event of a divorce or death; most often when one partner has substantially more assets than the other.
The question is, why after instead of before? Usually it's because the couple's financial circumstances change after they have been married and most often because both partners feel it is prudent to plan ahead while they are still talking to each other (remember planning and timing?).
A post nuptial can serve a variety of purposes.
The usual idea is to let spouses keep personal assets separate so that their children from another marriage can inherit them and of course it can spell out what each spouse gets if they split up.
That can be particularly valuable in any of the community property states.
In these states, any property acquired during your marriage will be split evenly without a pre or post-nuptial.
A post-nuptial can help ease anxieties on both sides and will allow both parties to override the applicable divorce laws in these states by deciding exactly how you, not the state, wants your assets divided.
The asset protection attributes of the postnuptial agreement is that we can place all of the valuable cash and equity-rich assets with the least lawsuit-prone spouse.
The husband may be a physician, real estate developer or perhaps a businessman concerned about potential lawsuits.
He would much rather have these assets go to his wife and children than a judgment creditor.
So we can set up an agreement wherein the house, cars, rental property and liquid assets go to the wife and the business (goodwill), professional licenses old car and clothes go to the husband ( a split not unlike many divorces you have heard of!).
Actually we value the business goodwill and professional licenses highly enough to really make the financial arrangement a relatively reasonable division.
The husband's wealth would now lie in intangibles; not particularly desirable to a judgment creditor.
Of course, most husbands ask me the question, "What if my wife divorces me, do I lose all my assets?" The answer to that is that we can include a clause in the agreement that states that in case of a divorce, at least on-half of the estate reverts back to the husband.
So you can see, we really have covered all the necessary concerns.
The question is, why after instead of before? Usually it's because the couple's financial circumstances change after they have been married and most often because both partners feel it is prudent to plan ahead while they are still talking to each other (remember planning and timing?).
A post nuptial can serve a variety of purposes.
The usual idea is to let spouses keep personal assets separate so that their children from another marriage can inherit them and of course it can spell out what each spouse gets if they split up.
That can be particularly valuable in any of the community property states.
In these states, any property acquired during your marriage will be split evenly without a pre or post-nuptial.
A post-nuptial can help ease anxieties on both sides and will allow both parties to override the applicable divorce laws in these states by deciding exactly how you, not the state, wants your assets divided.
The asset protection attributes of the postnuptial agreement is that we can place all of the valuable cash and equity-rich assets with the least lawsuit-prone spouse.
The husband may be a physician, real estate developer or perhaps a businessman concerned about potential lawsuits.
He would much rather have these assets go to his wife and children than a judgment creditor.
So we can set up an agreement wherein the house, cars, rental property and liquid assets go to the wife and the business (goodwill), professional licenses old car and clothes go to the husband ( a split not unlike many divorces you have heard of!).
Actually we value the business goodwill and professional licenses highly enough to really make the financial arrangement a relatively reasonable division.
The husband's wealth would now lie in intangibles; not particularly desirable to a judgment creditor.
Of course, most husbands ask me the question, "What if my wife divorces me, do I lose all my assets?" The answer to that is that we can include a clause in the agreement that states that in case of a divorce, at least on-half of the estate reverts back to the husband.
So you can see, we really have covered all the necessary concerns.
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