Marriage is the coming together of two people. They start their new lives together. At this time, it is crucial to protect the assets that you have built before marriage. The best way to do that is by drawing up a Prenuptial agreement. The lawyers at Musson Law will help you to draw a reasonable agreement. They will guide you through the process and help to ensure that the prenup agreement is fair towards you. What should a reasonable prenup agreement include and exclude? We are here to answer that question and help make the process easier for you.
Assets:
A fair prenuptial agreement should include the assets that you own and want to protect in case of a divorce. Homes, investment accounts, RRSPs, pensions, stock options, investment accounts and business interests are just some of the assets you could include in the prenuptial agreement. However, it is unfair to have a clause throwing the spouse out of the family home. Married couples have an equal right over a home, irrespective of who’s on the property’s title.
Debts
The agreement is in place to protect your assets and debts. If you or your partner has significant debt, then the prenup can prevent it from equalizing. If you wish, you can put a provision stating that if one person pays off the other’s debt, they will have to credit the amount.
Children
The prenup should have a clause that protects children from your previous relationship. In the prenup, you can have a clause that leaves behind the property in case of the untimely death of the parent. However, the prenup shouldn’t include clauses about children shared by the partners. There should be no clause about parenting time or decision. All the decisions concerning children are taken as per the law.
Spousal Support
Child support can’t be determined by the prenup, some couples choose to include spousal support in the prenup. The agreement could state whether the support would be paid or not. In case, spousal support is being paid, the prenup dictates how much is to be paid. It will also determine for how long it will be paid.
What happens when you don’t have a prenup?
Following are just some things that you can include in your reasonable prenup. Many couples choose not to have a prenup. In such a situation, in case of a divorce, the property is divided as per the law. At no point should you assume that the division would be equal. It happens often that divorcing couple is shocked to find out how grossly unfair the division can be. Having a prenup in place will help to evade that. It will also help both parties to be sure about what to expect in case of a divorce. To avoid this sort of unfairness, the prenup you draw up must be fair and reasonable. Your lawyer will go through the agreement before you sign it to ensure that it is not unfair to you.
