Geek Question of the week (1 Viewer)

[Optimus Prime]

It's been awhile and this isn;t really a "geek" question.

This week's question: Should you get a Pre-Nuptial Agreement?

Dave Ramsey, the financial advisor who specializes in getting people out of and staying out of debt had this quote: (I'm paraphrasing)

"Never get a pre-nup. If you're already thinking about divorcing before you get married, don't get married".

Meawhile, Kobe's divorce will cost him 75 million dollars, Mel Gibson's will cost him up to half of his $800 million dollar fortune.

(Now in Mel's case I know they have like 7-8 kids and they were married for 20+ years)

There is a huge difference for a long-time marriage, especially if the couple built up a successful business together, or if one gave up a career to raise kids and splitting up 2 years later.

If Linda McCartney had divorced Paul then she would have had a legitimate claim to quite a bit.

The 2nd wife, (i think Heather was her name) who Paul was married to for about 10 minues wanted half of his money. HALF??!! for what?? Hundreds of millions of dollars earned before she was even born. ( i think she ended up with over 50 million)

I remember reading that Johnny Carson was paying his ex-wife over 100K ever month, and that was 30 years ago. I don't know how true that is.

I've posted over the years how much I hate alimony (not child support, that's different). It's a holdover from a time when alot of women didn't work and depended solely on her husband for support.

I think that if you are going to get married you need an iron-clad pre-nup.

With high divorce rates (I've read over 50%, I've also read that that number is a myth, whatever the real number is; it isn't a negligible number like 2%) I would think that everyone would want one just to protect themselves

Your thoughts?

 

[E Pluribus Unum]

Do people who get prenups vow 'til death do us part?

 

[gboudx]

Do people who get prenups vow 'til death do us part?

"Death" is subjective. Death of what? A dog? A fish? Loyalty? Faithfulness? Or in case of Kim K/kris Humphries, death of like 70 days?

 

[bozoka45]

I just enrolled in a case involving a prenup. It's messy. Don't get married in the first place and solve all your problems.

 

[gaminerie]

I just enrolled in a case involving a prenup. It's messy. Don't get married in the first place and solve all your problems.

^ This ^

 

[justdave]

Absolutely not. Just be sure to marry someone with a lot more money than you.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

until my wife figure out how to divide by zero, i think i'm safe

 

[Taurus]

If there's a huge, preexisting income disparity, get the pre-nup. If not, forego the thing.

 

[gaminerie]

i think it's kind of touching that people hate money (or the prospect of ever having any of one's own) enough to get married. How romantic.

 

[PayOrPlay]

Asking if you need a pre-nup is a little like asking if you need a will. For many people, the regular provisions of law will, more or less, conform to their expectations of what happens to their property in the event of a divorce. Especially so in community property states, where the property earned during the marriage is split 50/50 while property brought into the marriage (or inherited from family) remains separate property. In theory, anyway. Likewise with wills, most people would probably leave their property to the same heirs who would get it through intestacy (again, in theory) but there are still reasons to have the document (or a trust, but let's leave that alone).

At a minimum, however, going through the process is helpful because it induces both partners to itemize their property and acknowledge which property is meant to be kept separate and to consider whether there is anything special that needs to be done about anything in particular. For example, if either (or both) of the prospective spouses were married before, or already have kids, or family property, they may want to take special steps to make sure the separate property is acknowledged as such, so that in the event the marriage ends, property ends up with the right persons (the earlier kids, the family, etc.) rather than with their ex-spouse's next spouse.

Sometimes, the main function of the pre-nup may be just to set a firmer line of finality after the marriage ends. Let's say you're a creative person, or a celebrity, and you own copyrights, patents, or something called "celebrity goodwill". Your marriage ends and your ex-spouse now claims that because he/she contributed to the creation of assets like these, you should have to pay your ex-spouse a continuing % of your income after the marriage, forever. One thing a pre-nup can do is eliminate or limit claims like these.

So that's my windy response. Did you really think you'd get a yes or no answer from a lawyer?

 

[geauxboy]

i think it's kind of touching that people hate money (or the prospect of ever having any of one's own) enough to get married. How romantic.

 

[RussTKD]

Depends on the financial situation going into the marriage.

 

[Zack Lee]

until my wife figure out how to divide by zero, i think i'm safe

I would be safe until they figure out how to divide into zero. Reminds me of George Castanza asking Susan for a pre-nup.


Marriage will always be the leading cause for divorce, pre-nup or no.

 

[Saint Sarah]

If there's a huge, preexisting income disparity, get the pre-nup. If not, forego the thing.

Or a huge likelihood of income disparity if you want. It is also necessary to protect large individual assets you are taking into the marriage. This may be as simple as filing something with the records office in your parish and your spouse doesn't even have to ever know.

That's building the marriage on trust from the beginning lol.

 

[Sarcastic]

Marriage will always be the leading cause for divorce, pre-nup or no.

No, it's not. It's a requirement to get divorced, but it's not the leading cause.

Something like 50% of people who get married get divorced.

I'd say a higher percentage of those who cheat on their wives (or husbands) would get divorced.

Probably more than 50% of people who have threesomes with their wife's parents get divorced.

The list goes on.

It's a cute little saying, but it's not true - it's like saying the leading cause of fatal car accidents is owning a car. No, the leading cause is probably either drinking or, say, driving the wrong way on the interstate.

There are plenty of happy married people out there, you miserable people don't need to assign your misery and bitterness to all of us.

That said, if you really love someone you should be able to keep business a separate matter and just sign the pre-nup. Nobody plans to divorce when they get married, but 50% do. You should protect yourself. Love doesn't have to make you completely stupid, although it apparently does more often than not.