Chicago Prenup Lawyer

Our prenuptial agreement attorneys in Chicago understand that the key to successful premarital and postnuptial agreements is to work with the parties to develop customized settlement terms that address their needs and protect their interests, while also ensuring that the parties’ relationship remains intact.

What You Can Address in a Prenuptial or Postnuptial Agreement:

• Marital and separate property
• Marital and separate debts
• Alimony concerns
• Children from a previous marriage
• Inheritances and family heirlooms

Our Chicago prenuptial agreement attorneys can help you work through these various topics and determine which ones should be included in your agreement. Every agreement will be unique to each couple.

Things You Cannot Address in a Prenuptial or Postnuptial Agreement:

• Child custody
• Parenting time
• Child support
• Spousal duties during the marriage

Celebrities marry and then divorce almost like clockwork. To protect their wealth and assets during the property division process of divorce, the majority of celebrity couples use prenuptial agreements. This family law document lets two spouses pre-decide what to do with certain assets and responsibilities in divorce before they are officially married.

The good news about so many celebrities using prenuptial agreements is that it makes more people aware of these types of agreements. The bad news is that it also makes more people assume that they’re only for the rich. The truth is that prenuptial agreements can benefit practically every engaged couple.

Let’s review five of the most important and common reasons why a prenup could benefit you before you jump to a decision, one way or another.

Reason 1: You Have Important Separate Property

Easily the most common reason why people call a family lawyer and ask about prenuptial agreements is that they have significantly valued or sentimental separate property. In a divorce, separate property is any asset that was owned by one spouse before the marriage started. Property division doesn’t apply to separate property, so it is important to make sure that your important separate property doesn’t get mixed up as marital or community property that can be divided.

A prenuptial agreement can be used to clearly establish what property is separate and should not be touched during a divorce. It can also establish that income earned by either spouse while married should be considered separate as long as it is kept in an individually owned financial account. This decision is beneficial to most engaged couples, regardless of their income levels, but it is even more useful when one spouse owns or manages a business. 

Reason 2: Your Spouse Has Severe Debt

While it is important to protect your income and assets from property division, it is just as important to protect yourself from any debt that your fiancé had before you became married. If you don’t clearly designate the origin of the debt as separate property, and that it will remain that way after you are married, then it could become your problem, too, if you divorce.

In a prenuptial agreement, you can decide that debts accrued by one spouse during marriage will belong to just that spouse. Using this tool, you can protect yourself from the reckless spending of your spouse in case you divorce. However, debt that is accrued while making purchases that benefit you both is unlikely to be considered separate.

Reason 3: You Have or Want to Have Children

Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements are not allowed to pre-decide important matters related to your children, such as child custody and child support. The reasoning is that the court will only make a child-related decision based on the child’s best interests, and those best interests can only be determined by using the most up-to-date information.

However, you can still benefit from a prenuptial agreement if you have or want children with your soon-to-be spouse. Using a prenup, you can protect certain assets that you own separately that you want to make sure are later inherited by your children, rather than being used by your spouse. Or you can set property agreements with your spouse about passing property to your child. For example, you could use a prenup to agree that ownership of a family automobile will be passed to your child once they get a driver’s license, even if a divorce ends the marriage. 

Reason 4: Your Pets Are Like Your Children

You might not be able to pre-decide what to do about the custody and support of your children, but you likely can do that for your pets. If you love your pets and can’t fathom leaving them with your spouse after a divorce, then you should get a prenuptial agreement. Use it to establish that you will retain ownership of them if you were to ever divorce. Fido and Fluffy will thank you for your foresight.

Reason 5: You Want Less Stress

Don’t overlook the fact that a prenuptial agreement can actually help your marriage in the long run. Never needing to worry about many details of divorce because they are pre-decided can help keep the stress you feel while married down. Little arguments might be less likely to escalate to fights because it feels like there is less to “lose” in case the marriage eventually ends. In this way, virtually every engaged couple can benefit from a prenuptial.

At our firm, we are dedicated to helping couples navigate the process of drafting a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement with ease. We understand how important this document is to many couples, and how it can impact your lives for years to come. Let us help you create and implement a fair, favorable, and legally sound agreement.

Call (312) 487-2795 to get started with a prenuptial agreement in Chicago.

Recommended Reading

• Does Your Prenup Need to be Updated?
• Can You Include Child Custody in a Prenup?
• What Cannot be Included in a Prenuptial Agreement
• 5 Reasons Your Prenup May be Invalid