• Most recent statements from all bank and brokerage accounts
• Most recent statement reflecting all retirement accounts
• Most recent statements of any stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs held outside of brokerage accounts
• Any life insurance policies
• Most recent pay stub
• Copies of tax returns for at least the last 2 years
• Most recent statements from all credit card or debt obligations
• Information regarding any real property, including but not limited to: fair market value of the home (tax accessed value), total mortgage amount, names of people on the mortgage and title
• Information regarding any automobiles and motor vehicles

If you bring these items and any other items relating to your finances to your first meeting with your prenup attorney, the meeting will be fruitful and productive.  Be prepared for the initial meeting with a prenup attorney to last approximately 2 hours.  It takes this much time to gather all the financial information and speak with you about the goals of the prenuptial agreement.

In a recent article in DETAILS magazine, Yaran Noti writes about marriages where couples keep completely separate finances.  Now, they are married and they live together.  They just simply keep separate bank accounts, credit cards, bills, retirement savings, etc.  Anything you can think of financially, they keep separate.  I am a huge supporter of this idea because the majority of marriages that end up in divorce, the contention is usually about money.  People are funny about money.

Many people will say that that is simply not a marriage.  A marriage is suppose to be a joining of 2 individuals.  They want everything to be shared, including finances. But in my opinion, this causes more trouble than it’s worth.  Why start out a perfectly good marriage by ruining it by throwing money into the mix?  No, it’s not the traditional view of what married couples do, but I’d much rather prepare for the worse and hope for the best, then to hope for the best…period.

I’m also a big advocate for prenuptial agreements for everybody who ever gets married – poor or rich or homeless.  Everyone who’s marrying should have a prenuptial agreement.  Most of what makes up a prenuptial agreement is – you guessed it – MONEY.  Most couples in this country don’t execute prenuptial agreements and that is why there are so many contentious divorces and such a huge demand for divorce lawyers.  If everyone who marries had prenuptial agreements, we’d have less divorce attorneys in Massachusetts and around the country.  Again, I’d much rather prepare for the worse and hope for the best then to simply hope for the best.