| Is
a “pre-nup” right for you?
Marriage is a time for celebration, but of course you need
to look after the practicalities as well.
Those about to enter a second or third marriage are prime
candidates for a marriage contract (a “pre-nup”). Divorce is miserable; if you or
your spouse-to-be have gone through it, then you want to start your new life together with
some peace of mind.
Many people come to me for marriage contracts when one
spouse-to-be has significantly more assets than the other.
Often, those assets have been accumulated by the person’s family and it is often the
family (parents or adult children) who insist on there being a marriage contract.
These are the most common situations where people want
marriage contracts, but there are certainly others. Divorce
can affect business partnerships. Remarriage can
complicate estate matters. No one wants to
endanger their business partners or bequeath a legal mess to their loved ones.
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If your assets are worth
protecting, then they are worth protecting with a proper marriage contract.
While no lawyer can absolutely guarantee that a court in the
future will abide by the terms of a marriage contract, at least when you have an experienced
family law lawyer you are maximizing the chances that your ‘divorce insurance’ will be
effective against any later attack.
Courts tend to set aside pre-nups where only one lawyer was
involved. This does not mean that working on a
marriage contract has to be an adversarial process. Both
sides’ lawyers can and should engage in a co-operative and collaborative process without
compromising their client’s interests. Furthermore, it is never
appropriate to have a marriage contract without full disclosure of each side's assets,
liabilities, and income.
Not just any lawyer will do.
Nor will any standard ‘off-the-shelf’ legal form suffice. Some
Ontario
lawyers will charge a few hundred bucks for a marriage contract. They may even act for
both sides, making it even more of a 'bargain'. You get what you pay for.
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| If
you think you and your spouse-to-be could benefit from a marriage contract, or if you are
concerned that a family member or business partner who is about to be married needs some
protection, call me and together we can assess whether I can be of
assistance.
If you would like to learn more about my expertise,
click here.
For more technical information on marriage contracts,
please read my article, here. |