These 4 things (and more) is what I discuss and get my clients to discuss with their fiance when preparing a prenuptial agreement.  As I’ve said before, these conversations must be had before anyone gets married, with or without a prenuptial agreement.  Lisa Peterson, the founder of Harmoney, who I have had the pleasure of meeting, provides a great service to engaged couples where she helps facilitate this conversation over money with them.  Sometimes, it’s easier to have someone help you and your partner talk about such a sensitive and often contentious subject.

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Money Talks To Have Before Marriage

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.