Entering into a marriage is an innately risky proposition. Although no one enters into a marriage already planning for it to fail, over half of all marriages end in divorce. For those who are approaching a marriage, the prospect of what may be suffered if the marriage fails is an enormous source of anxiety. This can be especially true for those who are engaged to an individual who is carrying a large amount of debt. Debt is a funny kind of monster, capable of following a person around for years, even if it was not theirs to begin with. It is not uncommon for a divorce settlement to include one spouse taking on some of the other’s debt as part of a settlement, and this can leave one in the aftermath of a divorce carrying their former spouse’s debt with them.
The good news is that these fears can be put to rest long before they have an opportunity to create division in your marriage. A properly prepared prenuptial agreement can preemptively protect one spouse from even the threat of being saddled with the other spouse’s debt. In an ideal scenario, this preventative measure can be exactly the relationship protection that allows the marriage to thrive and go the distance. Prenuptial agreements have a tendency to be seen as merely a pre-determined divorce, but a well-built agreement can go a long way towards avoiding the very stresses that tear a marriage apart, making it stronger.
Consider the alternative — you are married to a person carrying a significant amount of debt without any prenuptial protection, and the marriage comes to an end. It is extremely likely that you will have to take on some of that person’s debt in the divorce settlement because his or her debt became your joint debt when you became married. Now you are recovering from the devastation of a failed marriage and carrying a debt burden that you did nothing to incur. You may spend years being hounded by merciless collectors who do not care how you acquired the debt, they only know that you are the name next to the number on their list of people to call.
In this day and age, it is simply impractical to enter into a marriage without considering how a prenuptial agreement may strengthen your marriage and set you up to succeed in the long run. If you are ready to create the right document for your relationship, an experienced attorney can help you navigate the process and protect your rights.