Prenuptial Agreements from The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal has article on a subject brought up before on this blog: the older couple marrying again.

Unlike young newlyweds, where a tough decision might involve merging music or movie collections, older couples have paid-off houses, retirement accounts and life-insurance policies to consider.

There's planning for long-term health needs that, unfortunately, might arise in the not-too-distant future. And to make matters more difficult, there can be children and grandchildren on both sides of marriage, many or all of whom might have conflicting interests and loyalties.

The WSJ proceeds to discuss what can happen without a prenuptial agreement:

Most states have laws dictating that irrespective of the will, a certain percentage of those assets must go to the spouse. That spouse could leave his assets to his children -- and the wife's children don't get what they were originally supposed to receive under her will. "You can end up with your hard-earned savings ending up with kids of your second spouse," says Bernard Krooks, a New York attorney.

This can be overcome in a prenuptial agreement (or in a stand-alone agreement) where the spouse waives his or her rights to the assets that would otherwise automatically be granted to them under their state laws.

Indiana law creates a slightly different scenario - the surviving spouse does not get all of the assets. That difference does change the basic argument of the WSJ article.

If you are an Indiana resident wanting a prenuptial agreement or needing a prenuptial agreement reviewed, give me a call.

If you want more information on Indiana prenuptial agreement law, take a a look at my articles under the topic prenuptial agreement.