Sunday, October 12, 2008

Prenuptial Agreements or Post-Nuptial Agreement?

Reading the following in Prenuptial Agreements from the Mississippi Family Law Blog raised this question for me:

"The line between marital and non-marital property can get blurred though if it increases in value during the marriage. Should that increased value be considered marital property? The original owner sometimes risks losing his or her pre-marital property in the divorce. The line is further blurred when you mix pre-marital property with marital property during a marriage or use pre-marital property, such as a home, for your new family’s use. A prenuptial agreement can fix this situation."
Of course, the difference lies in when you ask the question. Before marriage means a prenuptial agreement and a marriage requires a post-nuptial agreement. That is too easy. The sharp point comes in when where new assets arrive or an old asset increases in value.

Consider this: you get married and your business takes off in a big way or Uncle Joe leaves you a big pile of cash. That is when a post-nuptial agreement has a use.

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