Before a remarriage, some conflicts over money can be headed off ahead of time if the parties sign a prenuptial agreement. In order for an agreement to be valid, each party should have an attorney, and those attorneys should be independent of each other.
Many “prenups” are overturned, often because of coercion or inadequate financial disclosure. Therefore, both parties should be represented by lawyers who know the pitfalls of prenups and how to avoid them.
A solid prenup can cover everything from household spending to disposition of assets in case of death or divorce. In some states, a surviving spouse is automatically entitled to a certain share in the other spouse’s estate but such an entitlement can be waived through a valid prenup.
When a couple is planning on remarrying, talking about a prenuptial agreement can be awkward, to say the least. Instead of focusing on the prenup, the couple should have a new estate plan–which just happens to include a prenuptial agreement.