What does a pre-nuptial actually do?

David H

Its to protect 'the person' who has the 'most' at the begining of a marriage / living together. The person with the least at the begining cannot lay claim to 'anything' the other person had before they met - only the money/things they have accumulated while they have 'been together'. Papers are signed before the marraige/living together by both partys - sort of kills the love and romance of getting together - ah well - if your rich - thats what you do.

All the 'rich clever' men and women out there will always protect themseves - so's not to (as the law people say) leave themselves 'exposed' to as you say 'goldiggers' and the like.

Its all done on dates - ie: when they met and when they parted.

BabeHeart

A pre-nup is designed to protect the assets of the person who has them so if divorce occurs their "spouse" won't necessarily benefit from all their hard work and asset gains prior to when they became married. There may be wording that excludes the soon-to-be ex from getting any benefit from any assets their partner had prior to the marriage or wording that says they may get "x" fixed amount or "x" percentage...whatever the couple decides is agreeable. They are fairly common here in the US, especially if either or both parties is entering the marriage with a fair amount of wealth.

Personally, I don't think either party is entitled to the assets their partner brought into the marriage...they are only (possibly) entitled to a share of what was acquired during the marriage...assets and debt.

eyewitness

stops greedy women doing a heather mills

Nick P

Depends which country you are in. The UK courts have not fully accepted them (though there are cases pending so watch this space) and whilst they will have regard to the contents they will not be bound by them.

So far as I know they have much more weight in the US but again are not necessarily binding if, for instance, the parties were not fully aware of each others assets.

lar_dawg08

I covers the person who wrote it from Gold digging spouses.

Ello Guv

Its a contact in can have anything written into that the couple decide. Usually they would agree on a set amount to payed to the one partner if the marriage fails, instead of 50% that they may receive as a spouse through the divorce courts. They have no legal basis in the UK, but if I were a Multi millionaire and we got married I would say you can have a settlement of half a million if we divorce plus and extra quarter of a million for each child.

craig b

It protects BOTH sides from financial destruction. You state what your assets are at the inception of the marriage and what/where those assets are to be distributed if something happens.

My father has got bank. He got married to a divorced woman with three kids and established a pre-nup to set aside what $$$ will go to us kids and what $$$ will go to her kids in the event of death or any problems.
It also states what assets are her own to go to her kids/family. What if she got hit by a bus and was killed and my dad took everything she ever had. Where would that leave her children?

See? It goes both ways.

Obzi

There was a top lawyer talking on tv recently and she said that here in the UK they aren't worth the paper they're written on.

In other countries things are different but here the agreement of marraige overides everything.

alialoggi

I can tell you this. My husband cheated, filed for divorce, and it was determined that his pre-marital 401 k was to be used to pay for bills and to be divided as assets. If the money is owed, it will be taken from anywhere to pay the bills, pre-nuptial or not. And, you shouldn't assume that they are in place to protect men from gold diggers (as if those pretty young things are after the fat old guys for their looks, anyway).

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