How to Create a Prenup
Having made the decision to enter into a prenuptial agreement with your intended, there are certain steps that you need to take in order to create the agreement. A failure to follow some of these steps to the letter can result in any prenup that you write having no effect.
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Things You'll Need
- List of all of your assets List of all of your future spouse's assets Copy of the current law in your state on prenuptial agreements
Instructions
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Draft a list of all of your assets, property of all types that you own that is of any value. Include on your list any item of property that is worth more than $1,000. Your future spouse needs to make the sort of list.
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Share the lists you both have written between yourselves. The most fundamental aspect of creating a prenup is ensuring that both parties to the agreement have fully disclosed the property that each owns.
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Familiarize yourself completely with the statutes governing prenuptial agreements in your state. Many states--but not all--use a version of the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act. You can find the law pertaining to prenups online and at your local library.
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Determine whether you want your prenup to include a provision that will allow it to "sunset." You can have a clause in the agreement that allows the prenup to expire if the marriage lasts an agreed to amount of time. Keep in mind that in some states the law automatically provides for such a sunset unless the agreement is renewed.
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Discuss with your future spouse the precise parameters of the prenup. It is possible to waive any claim to property of any type and to any alimony or maintenance. However, whatever is being waived needs to be clearly understood between the parties and spelled out in the prenup itself.
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Draft the prenup agreement using clear, concise language. Make sure that both you and your future spouse understand fully all of the provisions in the agreement. Change any clauses that are unclear before you and your future spouse sign the document.
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Make no reference to children (future children) and to issues such as custody, visitation or support. As of June 2009, no state permits these issues to be covered by a prenup agreement.
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Sign the agreement in front of a notary. Make sure you are signing it freely and voluntarily. The same holds true for your future spouse. A prenup will be set aside in court if there is any indication that one or the other party did not sign the agreement voluntarily.If it is not notarized, it is void.
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Sign the agreement in advance of your wedding. You cannot go back and sign a prenup after you have been married. While there are options available to you along the lines of a prenup, any prenuptial agreement signed after a couple is married is null, void and of no effect.
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Tips & Warnings
You need to consider very seriously engaging the services of not only one but two lawyers to prepare a prenuptial agreement. By both you and your future spouse having separate attorneys to prepare and review a prenup, you will both be in the best possible position to ensure that your rights and interests fully are protected. Y
