Reading around - prenuptial agreements

Smart Money has an online article I do. (However ...) that covers the legal and non-legal issues of a prenuptial agreement quite adequately.

Conceived and carried out correctly, prenups don't have to be antagonistic or punitive. Dealing with the financial nitty-gritty, happy prenup owners say, is a healthy way to get communication flowing — in all areas. Why not get the hot-button issues aired now rather than later? To Marcy Syms, it wasn't about communication. For her, a prenup was simply the prudent thing to do. Back in 1985 she was already the president and COO of her family's business, New Jersey-based clothing retailer Syms Corp. Syms believes that anyone in her position "absolutely must have a prenup, to keep the business in the family." When she brought up a prenup with her fiance, a Wall Street analyst, it was "very well received," she says. "I knew he'd think it was the intelligent thing to do."

The article also has a short questionnaire for determining if you should have a prenuptial agreement.

New Jersey Family Law Blog is another posting on post- nuptial agreements. If you didn't make a pre-nuptial agreement, it's not too late to consider a post-nuptial agreement:

Both parties would be required to provide full financial disclosure and each would need to have separate legal representation. A post-nuptial agreement might sound unromantic and is not something for everyone, but it is not unreasonable if you have children from another marriage and want to protect their inheritance or you have partners in a new business venture who are worried about business ownership in the event of a divorce. If you didn’t make a pre-nuptial agreement, it’s not too late to consider a post-nuptial agreement.

Armchair Millionaire has a slightly different slant on prenups. Call it the difference between lawyers and businesspeople. The article is Saying "I Do" with a Prenup in Hand.

When we asked members of the Armchair Millionaire community their thoughts about prenups, the comments we heard showed how much it depends on each couple:

Burned once. "I did not have one but would have been more than willing to sign one if my husband wanted. He had been in a bad divorce before I met him which consumed his assets, including an inheritance from his grandmother." --Jennifer

Just common sense. "We didn't have a prenup when we got married--we were young and had nothing to fight over, except a little debt. I think prenups make sense for people who go into their marriage with sizeable assets, or for second or third marriages. It might take away the romance, but it's common sense!" --Gina

Family Law Professor has a range of articles on prenuptial and post- nuptial agreements that ends last year. These articles are here. Nothing specifically Hoosier in these posts, so I will just note them for now. One post raised a question in my mind but the hour being late I will put off research till another day.

I am uncertain how to describe the publishing history of Marriage Later in Life Tricky for Estate Planning. That history is on the site.

Findlaw has a prenuptial FAQ page here. The lawyer in me pauses suggesting this site because the site tries to fit the law of fifty states into one FAQ. There are wrinkles, and you know you need to talk to an attorney. If the site provides makes you ask questions of that attorney, then it is a good site. So much for lawyerly reservations, exceptions and so forth.

Suze Orman has a 2005 piece titled The Case For The Prenup.

A blog that seems dead but still might provide some good nuggets of information is Love and Marriage, Family Affairs.