Regarding Prenuptial Agreements And Alternative Options

Many will agree that premarital agreements may be prudent, but they just don't feel good. Most people don’t draft prenuptial agreements nor do they give consideration to seeking legal help from a child custody attorney down the line (because kids usually are not in the picture yet). It feels like giving up on your marriage before even getting started. Recommending a premarital agreement is asking two people who are thoroughly in love and convinced that this is a marriage made to last forever to, in effect, negotiate their divorce settlement before they say "I do." Any way you dress it up, that's a real downer for romance. Regardless, it may be the smartest decision you make.

In California, you can only enforce a prenuptial agreement if it's fair at the time you're enforcing it (a tough standard). There are many requirements that must be met in drafting an agreement that will be enforceable. It may be voidable if the party you're trying to enforce it against had representation when you negotiated and signed the agreement and you did not, or if you signed it less that seven days before you got married. Consequently, in family law San Diego couples who negotiate and execute prenuptial agreements are both represented by lawyers.

If you and your new spouse-to-be really aren't going to do the prenuptial thing, there are some practical steps both of you can take to control the way your property, debts, income and expenses merge. Many San Diego divorce attorneys recommend that you first, prepare a thorough inventory of everything you own and everything you owe as of your wedding day. You can do this without even sharing it with your spouse. But if the two of you can cooperate, you could each prepare an inventory and then sign a document indicating that you've each shared this information with your spouse.

Second, to the extent that you want property you acquired before your marriage to remain separate, treat it that way. Don't use it for the benefit of the marriage. San Diego family law experts explain that if you sell or liquidate any of it, make sure you deposit the proceeds in a separate account in your name only and that you don't use the proceeds for the benefit of the marriage.

If you already know that you're going to use some of your separate property for the benefit of the marriage, go ahead and pull out that much cash and deposit it into an account you can both draw out of, leaving the remainder of the separate property in the original account and preserving its separateness.

As your marriage continues, you may be tempted to tap into your separate property account for expenses of the marriage, like a down payment on a house or an investment in a business. Just realize that every time you tap your separate property for a marital purpose, you make it look more like marital community property.

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