Prenuptials

Wikipedia

A prenuptial agreement, antenuptial agreement, or premarital agreement, commonly abbreviated to prenup or prenupt, is a contract entered into prior to marriage,civil union or any other agreement prior to the main agreement by the people intending to marry or contract with each other. The content of a prenuptial agreement can vary widely, but commonly includes provisions for division of property and spousal support in the event of divorce or breakup of marriage.They may also include terms for the forfeiture of assets as a result of divorce on the grounds of adultery,further conditions of guardianship may be included as well.

In some countries, including the Netherlands, the prenuptial agreement not only provides for the event of a divorce, but also to protect some property during the marriage, for instance in case of a bankruptcy.

Many countries, including Canada, France, Italy, and Germany, have matrimonial regimes, in addition to, or some cases, in lieu of prenuptial agreements.

As of 2007, England and Wales do not enforce prenuptial agreements, but agreements may be upheld at the judges discretion. These countries also do not have a provision for marital regimes.

There are two types of prenuptial agreements: marriage contract for people who are married or about to be married, and cohabitation agreement for unmarried couples. A variation for people who are already married is a postnuptial agreement, also called a postmarital agreement.

Postnuptial agreements are similar to prenuptial agreements, except that they are entered into after a couple is married.http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/04/02/postnuptial.agreement/index.html CNN Living: Quit fighting get a postnuptial agreement

Legal recognition

Laws vary between both states and countries in both how to draft them and in whether they will enforce such agreements.

Historically, judges in the United States accepted the idea of prenuptial agreements as read more at » http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenuptial+agreement