Think Like Your Future Self Before You Sign a Prenuptial Agreement
Young people generally have a hard time estimating what they would do with a certain amount of money, especially if it is more money than they have ever personally controlled. If you have ever doubted this, try asking a room full of high school students, or even a room full of college students, what they would do with a million dollars, and watch them vastly overshoot what a million dollars can buy. They might say that they would buy a mansion or establish a community center, or they might plan to spend their lives traveling the world without ever bothering to pursue employment income. A lump sum of a million dollars upon divorce might seem like a sweet deal when you were young, but your marriage to a young millionaire ends decades later as a gray divorce, retiring with a measly million bucks might seem like cold comfort. It might be wiser to make the amount of lump sum alimony contingent on the length of the marriage, such as one million dollars if the marriage lasts less than ten years, but an additional million for every five years it lasts beyond that. Even if your fiance’s net worth is less than seven figures when you marry, you should still think seriously about what the amount of lump sum alimony you are agreeing to can buy, especially when you combine it with your separate property. For help thinking through the terms of your prenuptial agreement before you sign, contact a Boca Raton prenuptial and postnuptial agreements lawyer.
When a Million Dollars Feels Like a Drop in the Bucket After Decades of Building a Business Empire With Your Spouse
A Florida power couple recently announced their divorce, and their prenuptial agreement is the main point of contention. When they married 25 years ago, the wife was in her early 30s, and the husband was in his 40s. They signed a prenup agreeing that, if the marriage ended in divorce, the wife would get a lump sum of one million dollars. They filed for divorce after raising five children together and operating a successful healthcare business, at which point their net worth was many millions of dollars. If not for the prenup, any divorce court would have awarded the wife more than $1 million, pursuant to Florida’s laws of equitable distribution.
The wife is now arguing before the divorce court that the prenuptial agreement is invalid because she signed it under coercive circumstances. She claims that the husband only presented her the prenup on the morning of the wedding, when the guests were already en route to the ceremony, and that she did not have time to discuss it with a lawyer before signing. If the court accepts this argument, it may invalidate the agreement and award her a fair share of marital property based on the court’s own findings.
Contact Schwartz | White About Prenuptial Agreements
A South Florida family law attorney can help you think through the details of your prenuptial agreement before you sign it. Contact Schwartz | White in Boca Raton, Florida about your case.
Source:
people.com/florida-billionaire-healthcare-executive-divorce-hinges-on-wedding-day-prenup-11943047
