A postnuptial agreement is like a prenuptial agreement except, of course, couples make them after their wedding instead of before. In fact, many couples want a prenup but are too busy with wedding planning, so they make a postnup instead.
It may sound unromantic to some, but others decide a postnup could help reduce stress and increase communication. For some couples, a postnup can act as a structural support that helps make a marriage last.
Postnups in case of divorce
It is not hard to find examples of people making poor decisions when their marriage begins winding down. What if they had long ago decided what a good ending to a good marriage would look like?
But there are other reasons to create a postnup. Commonly, they protect a spouse who sacrifices a career in the name of taking the lead role in raising the couple’s children.
Or one spouse may stand to inherit a lot of money, and the couple agrees that some split other than 50/50 would make sense.
Couples who are already planning to divorce sometimes create a postnup before filing anything with the court. This can be one method of reducing the time and expense of divorcing without the agreement.
Postnups for estate planning
Some postnups come in handy when settling a will or creating an estate plan. For example, the children or spouses from previous marriages occasionally come second, and postnup created during a second marriage can help clarify and settle who will inherit which assets.
Postnups to reduced stress
Consider a spouse who gets an unexpected windfall from an inheritance, or maybe a lottery ticket. The sudden appearance of money in the relationship can bring stress. Clarifying who owns what might return the relationship to an earlier time when there seemed to be less at stake.
Or consider a spouse with an entrepreneurial spirit and a willingness to take risks. By defining which assets belong to which spouse, each spouse may feel more comfortable letting the other live their life as they see fit.
And when one spouse owns a business, there may always be the possibility of a divorce disrupting the business including its assets, brand, partners, customers, employees and more. A postnup can decrease the stresses of marriage and business ownership alike.
