There is a lot of talk these days about how divorce attorneys, through the overuse of prenuptial agreements, have diluted the act of marriage into being a routine business transaction between two parties. Personally speaking, I am opposed to prenups. Call me old fashioned, but I strongly believe in the sanctity of marriage. In my humble opinion, love and marriage should go hand and hand. That being said, whenever I hear someone talk about how divorce attorneys, through the overuse of prenups have turned marriage into a routine business transaction, I have a tendency to tune into the conversation.

Whether you and your fiancée should sign a prenup is entirely your decision. If you google the term ‘prenuptial agreements’, you will find a lot of articles that attempt to shed some light on the issue in order to be of help to you and your fiancée. Again whether you and your fiancée should sign a prenup is entirely your decision. There is one scenario where I believe that signing a prenup is an absolute must and that is in the scenario of the young entrepreneur.

Think about this, if you are a young entrepreneur and you establish a small business on January 1, 20XX and then you and your fiancée get married one month later, then technically, legally speaking the small business is 100% marital property. That means that technically, legally speaking your spouse would be entitled to half of the full value of the small business. The full value includes, among other thing, business assets, profits, and professional goodwill.

Just right quick, let’s play the worst case scenario game. Worst case scenario you established the small business on January 1, 20XX. You and your fiancée got married one month later. Fast forward the clock 15 years, you and your spouse are now miserable together and the divorce is looming on the horizon. On the up side of your life, the small business is thriving. It now has 10 employees and grosses over a half million dollars each year.

You sit down with a divorce attorney for a consultation to discuss your options. During the consultation the divorce attorney confirms your biggest fear…the small business is 100% marital property and technically, legally speaking, even though your spouse did not contribute any resources to the building up of the small business, you are going to have to compensate your spouse for half of the full value of the small business…unless of course, you and your spouse to signed a prenup prior to the wedding that states in crystal clear terms that the spouse ‘expressly waives any and all current and future interest in the small business in the event that divorce should occur’.

…at that point in time, you are going to wish that you had exercised some foresight prior to the wedding and signed a prenup.