How do you talk to your fiance about a prenuptial agreement?

Your engagement is a time of breathless anticipation and possibly stressful planning. It is a time when the two of you may be on your best behavior toward one another, trying to show that your upcoming marriage will be a wonderful and meaningful commitment.

Unfortunately, marriage comes with a lot of risks in addition to bringing numerous benefits. You can lose your property if you end up divorced and squander thousands of dollars in the process of ending your marriage. Newly engaged couples increasingly choose to draft prenuptial agreements as a way of eliminating or at least minimizing those risks.

How do you bring up a prenuptial agreement to your new fiance?

Show them what they have to lose

A prenuptial agreement should be a balanced and mutually protective contract, not a document drafted for the benefit of only one spouse.

Maybe your fiance has wealthy parents and will likely inherit a lot of money during your marriage. Perhaps they are in their last year of dental school and will eventually start their own professional practice.

You can bring up the conversation by talking about what they might like to protect as separate property in a prenuptial agreement.

Talk about the financial devastation of a litigated divorce

No one who is about to marry someone else thinks their marriage will end in divorce. They want to be the couple that makes it no matter what. However, you don’t know what the future holds, as most couples who get divorced probably thought they would stay together forever.

If you divorce one emotions are high and you fight over everything, you could easily spend more than $20,000 on court costs. You can reduce your cost to end your marriage to a fraction of what it might otherwise be if you cooperate with one another and draft a prenuptial agreement now. An uncontested divorce will be private, fast and far more cost-effective.

Your agreement could improve your marriage

Discussing a prenuptial agreement requires full transparency with your fiance about your financial and legal matters. It also requires that the two of you talk about your expectations for one another and your marriage. Those important conversations could actually set you up for an improved relationship after you get married.

Recognizing the many benefits that come from negotiating a prenuptial agreement could help you convince your fiance that an agreement would benefit you both.