Article here. Excerpt:
'Asking for a prenup--a legal agreement that specifies how couples will divide assets if they divorce--doesn't exactly sound like a romantic gesture. After all, couples marry for love, not money, so who needs to work out the nitty-gritty financial details of a break-up that the couple hopes will never happen?
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Everyone does, insists Silvana Raso, matrimonial attorney with the Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based law firm Schepisi & McLaughlin. "There's not a single person who couldn't benefit from a prenup, even if you're going into marriage with little assets," says Raso. "You might accumulate assets during the marriage, and even a young couple embarking on their own careers wants to make sure that what they acquire during marriage isn't just left up to a judge to divide," she adds.
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Many couples today enter marriage on relatively equal terms, with both spouses working and building careers, says Raso. Then, if they have children, one spouse often scales back workforce ambitions to spend more time at home. "They put their career on the back burner, and that limits their earning power substantially," she says.
As a result, she always asks couples what they think about alimony in the event of a divorce. "People are often surprised to hear their partner's reaction. If their spouse doesn't want to pay alimony, that might convince you to keep working," she says.
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Some states, including Texas and California, are known as community property states, which means couples' assets are usually divided in half regardless of circumstances. That means couples who wouldn't want an equal division need a prenup to prevent it.
Raso says prenups are like life insurance policies--no one likes thinking about either worst-case scenario, but having plans in place can ease the stress of a painful life event. Says Raso, "It's not romantic, but it's realistic."'
