*Most of our prospective clients are quoted a price based on a flat fee structure instead of being required to pay a large upfront retainer and being charged at an hourly rate. The attorney will be able to provide a price quote at the time of consultation and decide whether a flat fee structure would be most suitable given the prospective client’s needs.

Individuals today have certain assets that they’ve acquired or accrued prior to their marriage that they would like to protect in certain circumstances such as divorce, legal separation, or even the death of their spouse. These assets may include business interests, an anticipated future inheritance, but more commonly consists of real estate, savings, retirement, pensions, and/or 401k accounts. No one gets married with the intention of ever having to go through divorce, but the reality is that divorce happens. Unfortunately when divorce happens, what usually follows is a prolonged legal battle over who gets what, with hefty legal costs, and capped off with a final decision made by a family law judge as to how your marital property will be divided (HINT: it may not always 50/50 or right down the middle).

As a result, couples will often choose to opt for prenuptial agreement (also referred to as “prenup agreement” or “premarital agreement” or “antenuptial agreement”) prepared and signed prior to their marriage in order to ensure that they will be able to walk away with the assets that they spent their sole time, energy, and effort in obtaining, while limiting the emotional strain of appearing in court for divorce proceedings, as well as the likelihood that thousands of dollars will be spent on unnecessary legal expenses.

In most cases it does not, but an individual considering a prenuptial agreement should always consult with a licensed attorney in their state of marital domicile (meaning the state you will be living in as a married couple). It’s worth highlighting the benefits of engaging a prenup attorney to accomplish this task:

• Your prenup attorney will consult with you and identify your goals & objectives in preparation of the prenup agreement
• Your prenup attorney will have an understanding of the law and recent court decisions that may impact certain provisions within the prenup agreement
• Your prenup attorney will explain the provisions within the prenup agreement and advise you on how you should conduct your affairs in a manner that is consistent with the language of the agreement
• Your prenup attorney can answer questions related to how your prenup agreement interacts with or may affect your estate plan

It’s certainly your prerogative to go this route, but what you should note is that prenuptial agreements are state-specific documents. What this means is that states have differing laws on how they treat certain marital events, such as divorce, separation, or death of a spouse during the marriage. How can you be sure that the document that you are downloading has been properly vetted? One-size-fits-all agreements that can purchased online for a few dollars can produce an unintended result should the spouses ever need to admit the document into a judicial proceeding. We would never categorize prenuptial agreements as do-it-yourself documents due to the simple fact that a single error or omission can easily turn into a few thousand dollar mistake if the parties were to ever separate or a spouse were to pass away during the marriage. It’s best to err on the side of caution by paying a lawyer a little bit now, instead of a whole lot later when it’s time to explain your position to the judge. At some point you have to ask yourself whether it’s worth the risk of going down that road on your own.