By The Law Offices of Ronald H. Kauffman of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Agreements on Wednesday, April 1, 2015.

Before every wedding, you are surrounded by parents, friends, florists and caterers. You’re caught up in the excitement. This leads many to mistake the wedding as the end of the process when it’s really the start. A prenup can help.

As the New York Times recently reported:

“Marriage can be a minefield that blows up without the proper navigation these days,” said Debbie Martinez, a Miami relationship coach. That is why some couples are taking pre-marital counseling sessions to refocus their attention on each other and the lives they will lead together.

Unlike the marriage counseling people do years after a wedding, premarital counseling addresses unrealistic expectations of “happy, roses and rainbows,” said Jocelyn W. Charnas, a clinical psychologist in Manhattan who counsels engaged couples.

“The fundamental point about premarital counseling is to lay a foundation for empathy, communication and partnership,” Dr. Charnas said. This is especially true, he said: “for those couples in their 20s and 30s with good jobs and money saved. They view marriage as the capstone moment. They have arrived.”

Premarital counseling can serve a similar purpose as prenuptial agreements. I’ve written about pre-wedding preparation before, especially the importance of prenuptial agreements.

A prenup can help with the following:

Keeps Your Non-Marital Property Non-Marital. The property you brought into the marriage is yours. But over time it is common for people to start mixing things up. If you put it in writing, you can avoid this problem down the road.

You Can Change the Law. Right now in Florida, there is an ongoing legislation about alimony. Through an agreement you can modify Florida’s legal standards for awarding alimony.

Avoid Expensive Endings. A prenuptial agreement can simplify things by resolving issues ahead of time, way before death or divorce occurs. Once you have entered an agreement, everything should become cheaper.

Protect Your Children’s Inheritance. An agreement helps assure your children that any inheritance is protected, and they don’t need to resent the new spouse.

Citing the findings of a National Marriage Project, Mr. Wilcox said, “Couples who do premarital counseling fare better.” When two people love each other, it is hard to talk about kids, finances and other difficult subjects.

Some have other names for what can occur after the wedding cake is cut and the presents opened: the “post-wedding blues” or “crash.” It is a common phenomenon that typically occurs as life returns to normal in the days and weeks that follow the wedding and the couple ceases to be the center of everyone’s attention.

Voicing these concerns and strategizing about how to manage them can be tremendously helpful.”

The New York Times article can be read here.

By The Law Offices of Ronald H. Kauffman of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Agreements on Friday, January 23, 2015.

Most people think of prenuptial agreements as contracts for the rich and famous. Most people are wrong though. Prenups can deal with non-monetary issues too, making them a good idea for anyone marrying.

As USA Today recently reported:

Prenuptial agreements, or “prenups,” are contracts entered into before marriage that outline the division of assets in case of divorce. They may touch on things like spousal support (alimony), ownership of businesses and properties, and even financial duties and responsibilities during the marriage.

“Since getting into the business and seeing what can happen to family relationships in a divorce, I’m not sure there is an instance where a prenup would be a bad thing,” says financial adviser Jeffery Cortright, president of Phase 2 Investment Advisers in Jenison, Mich.

While most people think prenuptial agreements deal with assets and alimony, there are a lot of other concerns that can be handled:

– Will you have to care for an older parent

– Who pays or supports the house when going back to school

– Agreeing to spending habits

– Who pays for what credit card debt

– Who handles the costs of a business

– Who pays the taxes

– What happens if someone dies or becomes disabled

I’ve written about this issue before. Prenups aren’t only for the super-rich, but having a lot of assets is an excellent reason to have one. Even when couples have less than they want, the effort that goes into a prenuptial agreement can have benefits far beyond the financial.

There are cases when a prenuptial agreement is a no-brainer. If one person is entering the marriage with significantly more money or assets than the other, or if one or both individuals have family money or inheritances, a prenup is necessary.

Additionally, if you plan on keeping your finances separate, keeping separate bank accounts, or if you want one joint account for paying household bills, a prenuptial agreement is a great way to confirm it.

One of the cardinal rules of a prenuptial agreement though, is following the agreement by keeping accounts separate after getting married. Generally, once you have moved to joint ownership and mix up accounts, dividing the account after separation could be tricky.

If arguments about money are a top predictor of divorce, agreeing on the terms of a prenuptial agreement, and having the conversations about major issues you’re concerned about now, will lessen the chances of financial arguments and misunderstandings later.

The USA Today article can be found here.

On behalf of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Agreements on Monday, June 23, 2014.

The Onion, a satirical website, jokingly reported some property divisions include fines as steep as $50,000 for posting an unflattering picture of their partner on Facebook. It got me to thinking, what if this wasn’t satire?

Prenuptial agreements should include a “social media clause”. You know, a clause that protects you from a public relations disaster because your wife liked that cute picture of you passed out on vacation. Or one that prevents your husband from uploading a picture of you in the bathroom because he thought it was funny.

You and your partner could agree not to post, tweet, or otherwise share certain positive, negative, insulting, embarrassing, or flattering images or content. While married, you have control over what gets posted, but after a angry breakup, it could be “anything goes.”

It would be helpful to have a guarantee that a bitter Ex won’t publicly humiliate you on a world-wide scale, causing you reputational harm, and making it harder to meet someone new, or even hurting your career.

As Manhattan-based psychotherapist Diane Spear puts it:

“You could see a side of someone you wouldn’t have believed existed when you’re flushed with the romance and newness of the marriage,” said Spear.

Or as Fox News reports:

If you’re marrying someone and you’re concerned that they’re going to put a nude picture of you on the Internet, and you have to put that into a prenup – there’s probably a problem in the relationship before you’re even getting married.

The Fox News report can be found here.

The far funnier Onion report here.

On behalf of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Agreements on Tuesday, December 31, 2013.

Prenuptial property division are important. They help keep your property yours. You get to make your own standards for alimony. And, divorce becomes a lot cheaper, simpler and faster to resolve. Interestingly, a recent study found that millionaire men mostly don’t require prenuptial agreements, but millionaire women mostly do want prenups.

As San Francisco Weekly reports, a study prepared by Millionairematch.com did a random sample of 524 millionaires in the San Francisco Bay Area where there’s plenty of “new money” to be found. Especially in Silicon Valley.

The survey results were surprising:

• 82.6 % of millionaire men in Silicon Valley are most likely to seek out non-millionaire women.
• Only 16.2 % of millionaire men in Silicon Valley insist on a prenuptial agreements.
• Millionaire women, however, were quite the opposite
• 86.7% of millionaire women preferred dating other millionaires.
• 92.4% of millionaire women insist on prenups.

Apparently to marry a non-millionaire means to be charitable. The more popular responses from men polled had to do with dating “somebody who appreciates things” and not dating “bossy, middle-aged women who can take care of themselves.”

For women it’s a matter of “not carrying the whole financial burden,” according to a female member worth $100 million. (What financial burden is she referring to when one member of the couple is worth $100 million?) Must be tough when one decides love does cost a thing.

With many first marriages ending in divorce, and most second or third ones hitting the skids, a prenup is smart financial planning. A prenuptial agreement and the discussions that go with it can help ensure the financial well-being of the marriage.

The article can be read here.

On behalf of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Agreements on Monday, June 3, 2013.

Property division are important for couples planning to marry. Many people believe prenuptial agreements are only for the rich and famous. However, prenuptial agreements help all couples. Here are a few reasons why:

Keeps Your Non-Marital Property Non-Marital. The property you brought into the marriage is yours. But over time it is common for people to start mixing things up. Inheritance funds get deposited into joint accounts, properties get transferred into joint names…and all for good reason. Unfortunately, tracing commingled property is expensive, and hard to prove. But, if you put it in writing at the beginning, you can avoid this task and save some money down the road.

You Can Change the Law. Right now in Florida, there has been an ongoing debate about alimony. When you go to court, a judge has to follow state law regarding alimony. However, through an agreement you can modify Florida’s legal standards for awarding alimony, in addition to modifying what the current law says about the amount of support and the duration of the alimony period.

Avoid Expensive Divorces. Let’s face it, divorce can be expensive, and the cases don’t end quickly. A prenuptial agreement can simplify things by resolving issues ahead of time, way before the divorce is even filed. Once you have entered an agreement spelling out what happens in the event of a divorce, the case becomes a lot more cheaper, simpler and faster to resolve.

Protects Your Children’s Inheritance. Prenuptial agreements protect property from falling into the hands of the new spouse, often seen by children from earlier marriages as a “gold digger.” An agreement helps assure your children that any inheritance is protected, and they don’t need to resent the new spouse.

It is important to be aware of all of the consequences of marriage, and do what planning you can to avoid complications and costs in advance

On behalf of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Agreements on Wednesday, March 13, 2013.

Having a prenuptial agreement shoved under your nose days before your wedding can be frightening. It also can raise issues many people don’t want to face: things like finances and the possibility of divorce.

Because of Florida’s policy of enforcing agreements, prenups can be difficult to void – but not impossible.

In Long Island, Elizabeth Petrakis felt forced by her future Husband to sign her prenup 4 days before her 1998 wedding to millionaire Peter Petrakis.

According to Elizabeth, her future Husband promised to rip up their agreement once they had children. But after having twin sons and a daughter, the prenup stayed intact.

A trial court in New York voided the prenup on the grounds of “fraud in the inducement” and recently an appellate court approved of that ruling – recognizing that the Husband misled the Wife in the contract, and finding his “credibility to be suspect.” As her attorney said:

“You can enter into prenups, but you shouldn’t when you’re marginalizing your spouse or being too greedy.” “The argument was helped by inequality of the prenuptial agreement.”

Another attorney further explained the court’s decision:

“Many couples discuss the terms of their prenups and say they will do or say things in the future that are not memorialized in writing,” she said. “However, this fraudulent inducement to buy a house put the marital home in joint name and make other financial incentives after the parties wed appeared to sway the appellate panel who agreed to set aside the prenuptial agreement based on fraud.”

Florida has both case law and a statute to help lawyers, judges and the parties determine if a prenuptial agreement is enforceable. Florida courts must consider things such as fraud, duress, coercion, in addition to the unfairness of the agreement, and whether there was any financial disclosure.

On behalf of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Agreements on Tuesday, September 11, 2012.

In an earlier post I hinted that a prenup made a fine gift for a second marriage. But not all prenuptial agreements are created equal. An interesting case out of Kansas City refused to enforce a Muslim divorce. News of the case comes from The Volokh Conspiracy.

The Muslim premarital agreement is known as a mahr agreement. Mahr agreements are negotiated before the marriage between the groom and the bride’s family. Mahr agreements have two parts: a premarital payment in exchange for marriage vows, and a post-nuptial payment made if the marriage ends in divorce or death (a sort of deferred settlement). According to the wife in the Kansas case, her mahr agreement required the Husband pay her the deferred payment of 1,354 gold coins – worth about $677,000.

There were a lot of problems with the mahr agreement in the Kansas case. These problems often arise in marriage contracts from foreign countries which are primarily for religious purposes, or intended to be enforced in religious or foreign courts. The most important grounds the court gave for not enforcing the mahr included:

1. The mahr was never translated into English;

2. The mahr would function as a penalty, and Kansas is a no-fault state;

3. The mahr created tension between the Establishment and Equal Protection Clauses; and

4. The court suggested the mahr might not even qualify as a prenuptial agreement.

Florida law is slightly different from Kansas in this area. There are very few Florida appellate cases, and no Florida Supreme Court cases about mahr agreements. However, at least one Florida court has held muslim religious agreements may be enforceable in Florida, if they comply with secular contract law.

Whether you have a foreign premarital agreement, or want to enter into one, you can incorporate your religious or secular customs into a legal agreement, and have them enforced in Florida. As the Kansas case shows though, this is not something to be left for the imams back home.

On behalf of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Agreements on Thursday, September 6, 2012.

The probability of divorce is around 50% for first marriages. For second marriages, it’s more like 67%. The National Center for Family and Marriage Research recently analyzed the data, and found that the overall divorce rate was greater for second marriages.

What some clients don’t realize is that going through a second, third, or fourth divorce can be more complicated than first-time divorces. In multiple divorces, couples are older, and have less time to make up for losses. Also, couples are competing for dwindling resources. Child-support, alimony, and dividing up of the retirement accounts may still be pending, and there can be little left to divide in a second divorce.

Prenuptial agreements can be extremely important if you are thinking of marrying again, and they are not just for the ultra-rich. You can limit what’s in a prenup. Some can simply state what assets each party has brought into the marriage, and what assets each party will take away if the marriage ends. Or, if there is a disparity in incomes, you can add to the contract how much the lower-income spouse will receive. Also, if you have children from previous marriages, you can also provide some protection for an inheritance.

Of course, a prenup isn’t a requirement, you could just live together without the vows.

That may turn out swell if you are both earning about the same amount of income. Boback cautions, however, “It’s good for the person with all the stuff — and money. But the person who takes care of the home or kids and has nothing of their own after, say, 10 years of living together and then splitting up? They’re out of luck.”