Because people are getting married later in life, it’s more common than ever that you’ll be starting out the marriage with significant assets that need to be protected. No one should get married without a Prenup! It might seem unromantic, but setting legal intentions before marriage can be very important later if the marriage fails.

The statistics are that every other marriage ends in divorce. That is for first marriages, the odds for second and third marriages gets even worse. This makes it even more important that you have a Prenup in place before you get married.

Prenups are no longer just for rich people but for anyone coming into a marriage—with or without assets. Signing a Prenup eliminates any ambiguity on those assets and gives you clarity. It is also the first real negotiation between you and your spouse to be, which makes it a good test of the strength of your marriage going forward. It clarifies what happens in the event the marriage fails.

No legal document seems to trigger as much acrimonious discussion as a Prenuptial Agreement. The request of a partner to become a signatory  to a contractual document, that spells out the terms and obligations of the parties should the marriage end, is often seen as an unromantic sentiment. It may cause a partner to have second thoughts on the marriage.

A Prenup may be very easy to write, but making one legally enforceable goes way beyond the written words. Most states will heavily scrutinize the fairness of  prenup. Attorneys drafting Prenups focus heavily on the steps required to make sure a Prenup holds up. You need to use a competent divorce attorney to write a Prenup. This is very important! The ability to enforce a Prenup in the event of a divorce should be a top consideration for anyone looking to protect their wealth with a Prenuptial Agreement.

There is another reason prenups are so important—death and taxes.  A Prenup not only covers what happens to your assets in the event of a divorce, but also what happens should one of the spouses die, including a waiver of estate rights.

It is important to also create a Will to make sure your spouse will be provided for and to make sure there is no ambiguity about which assets should go to your spouse, particularly anything that is not in the Prenup. A Prenup addresses questions in the event of a divorce, and they also function with estate planning and probate laws where death is a possibility…and an eventual certainty.

And a newly married couple should immediately update their own estate plan.