How to Draft a Prenup
If you're going to be getting married soon, you and your spouse-to-be may have discussed the option of drafting a prenuptial agreement. There are important details that have to be considered to ensure that both parties are protected, and receiving help from a lawyer is usually recommended.
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Instructions
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Write down all of your assets and find a way to include them in the agreement before the draft becomes final. If you own any property that is of value, have family heirlooms that could be sold for a significant profit, or own a business that is worth millions of dollars, terms for how to divide these assets should be stated plainly in the prenup. If there are any items in your possession that are worth more than $1,000, these should be noted in the agreement as well.
Your spouse should make a similar list, and the two of you should go over each other's lists so that the content of the prenuptial agreement are satisfactory for both of you.
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The prenup is not just an agreement that helps couples to fairly divide their assets once they are married; the document may also include terms concerning division of debt. If one or both parties has a significant amount of debt going into the marriage, a prenup can help to protect the party that is not in debt from assuming responsibility. Hiring a lawyer and accountant to help you through this part of the process will help to decide exactly what to consider significant debt.
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Decide if the agreement will include a sunset clause. This means that the prenup will expire once the marriage lasts beyond the time you and your soon-to-be spouse have agreed on. After you are married and are nearing the deadline for the prenup to expire, you can choose to renew the agreement, or to render it invalid. Depending on the state you live in, the sunset clause may be automatically implied unless you decide to renew your agreement.
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The prenup draft should not include any information about the children the two of you plan to have during your marriage. The agreement does not cover details such as which parent will receive custody of the children in the event of divorce, or which parent will pay child support. No state allows these elements to be included in a prenup as of June 2009, and writing these items into your prenup could make the entire agreement invalid.
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