When you are getting married, it is important to consider how your finances will change. Any property that you mingle with your spouse’s will become community property, which is all divided down the middle if you get divorced. If you have substantial assets, high-value investments, or business interests, you may benefit from a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement. These can help you keep your assets in the event that you get divorced by keeping them out of the community property pool. For help creating a prenup or postnup today, call the Carpinteria prenuptial agreement lawyers at the Law Offices of Bamieh and De Smeth. Our number is (805) 643-5555.
A prenuptial agreement sets out rules for property division before the wedding. This means that, going into the marriage, each party has a clear understanding of what property will be mingled as community property and what property the individual spouses will keep as individual property.
This is important for protecting certain assets that you may not want to share 50/50 with your spouse. In a California divorce, all property that is acquired during the marriage or intentionally comingled is divided 50/50.
This is known as “community property,” and each spouse takes an equal share of this property. This is in contrast to “individual property,” which consists of the assets each party brings to the marriage and gets to keep if they get divorced.
When two people live together and share finances, most individual assets become shared, community property subject to 50/50 division upon divorce. A prenuptial agreement lists what property should be kept separate so that it is not shared or lost if a divorce occurs.
Prenuptial agreements are rigid contracts that set up the terms, up front, before the couple is married. Because of this, these agreements are often enforceable as long as both parties have full information and a fair chance to review the agreement. Some divorce cases reveal that the wealthy party failed to fully disclose finances, lied about terms of the agreement, or used threats to coerce their future spouse into signing a prenup. Those prenups are often thrown out, leaving the parties to each take half of whatever the law, not the agreement, defines as community property. Otherwise, the prenuptial agreements are usually strong, enforceable documents.
