Having a Prenup Is Critical When You're Getting Remarried

Financial planners and attorneys working with couples getting married for the second time (or more) are increasingly recommending that their clients have a prenuptial agreement drafted before they walk down the aisle.

This recommendation comes at a time when the Pew Research Center suggests that as many as 10 percent of all Americans who marry are doing so the second time or more.

One of the reasons that they're doing this is because spouses who are getting married for a second or third time are likely older. While their young counterparts who may be getting married for the first time have little assets or inheritances to protect for their kids, the same logic often doesn't hold true for those remarrying.

Take the case of a couple who decided to get married when the wife had just entered her 50s and her husband was soon to turn 60.

Both had worked hard all their lives, but the husband had been a successful businessman who'd amassed enormous wealth during the course of his life. He believed that his and his wife's love was genuine and that neither would take advantage of the other, so they both joined their finances when the married.

Fast forward 10 years and the husband predeceased his wife. Since there wasn't a prenup in place and his will dictated that all his assets should be transferred to his wife, that's whom everything went to. Within five years of his death, his widow also died.

Once again, because his will hadn't dictated otherwise nor was there a prenup in place, all of the assets that his wife had inherited when he died were passed along to her own kids, and not his, upon her death.

While it may seem that drafting a will would protect many families from the aforementioned scenario, it's not guaranteed. Instead, many legal experts warn that prenuptial agreements should be thought as forming the arsenal of estate and financial planning documents.

If you are older, have significant assets or are getting married for a second time, a Naples prenuptial agreements attorney can advise you of the many benefits associated with having one in place before you walk down the aisle.