Prenuptial Agreements - Why Are They Not Used More Often?

Thanks to Jonathon96595 for his post A Harvard Law School Takes a Look at Prenuptial Agreements - even if the original article is four years old. That post reprints Olin Fellow Heather Mahar Examines Prenuptial Agreements.

Reading the following portion of the Harvard press release, I thought how many people reading this blog fit into these categories:

There are two main reasons that people do not ask their partner to sign a prenuptial agreement.

First, as I just said, most people think that talking about a prenup sends a bad signal to their marriage partner. Actually, according to gossip columns, Ben Affleck broke off his engagement to Jennifer Lopez when she asked him to sign a prenup!

Second, most people seem to think that divorce can't happen to them, even though they realize that over 50 percent of marriages end in divorce. Just like most people think they are better than the average driver, they believe that their marriage will be happier and more stable than the average marriage.

By the way, her paper remains online (in PDF format) and can be accessed here. It is forty pages and will have to wait to be read.

Incidentally, I posted a link about another paper by Professor Mahar. That post is here. That same article was the subject of posts on The Kansas Family & Divorce Lawyer Blog under Prenuptial Agreements Can Promote Healthier Marriages and Pennsylvania Family Law Blog under Prenuptial Agreements Can Promote Healthier Marriages.