Many marriages fall prey to the pressures of money conflicts, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Couples across the country are discovering, or rediscovering, the value of postnuptial agreements. Postnuptial agreements, when executed properly can relieve much of the tension surrounding financial matters between spouses, saving marriages that might otherwise be doomed.
There are numerous scenarios where a postnuptial agreement can be a great help. Let’s say that you and your spouse have been married for a few years, living near Fort Myers, and you have started a business. Because your started the business while married, the business is technically marital property, which means that if you get divorced, the whole thing may dissolve because your spouse can claim they deserve a portion of the value of the business.
As any small business owner can attest, when you’re just getting something off them ground, keeping business and personal matters entirely separate is very difficult. Furthermore, getting a business off the ground requires making many sacrifices, and may affect your relationship. Your spouse may worry that you care more about the business than you care about them, while you may worry that a divorce will erase all of your hard work.
With a proper postnuptial agreement, you can define terms with your spouse so that he or she feels provided for and valued, while you can keep the business safe from division in a divorce settlement. In many cases, working out these terms alleviates tensions within the marriage and allows you to rediscover why you chose to build a life together in the first place.
Source: Findlaw, “What Is a Postnup? Do You Need One?,” Jenny Tsay, accessed June 09, 2017