If you own your own business, or otherwise work as an independent contractor, consider a prenuptial (or postnuptial) agreement as simply part of basic financial planning for your business.

What is a prenuptial agreement, or a “prenup,” as it is often called?

Prenups are important legal documents that allow couples who enter into marriage to protect their best interests, but they are not a means of cheating one’s spouse out of anything – and they are not an indictment of the marriage itself.

A post-nuptial agreement, or a “post-nup,” is a similar contract, but it is signed by the parties after the wedding. The difference is not in function, only in the timing.

Prenups and postnups are not only for the rich. People in any tax bracket should consider properly protecting their assets and reducing the costs of potential divorce litigation. However, as a business owner, your assets and your future livelihood are at stake in a divorce, and without a pre- or postnuptial agreement, you are at the mercy of state laws.

Perhaps your objection to a pre/postnuptial agreement is that your business is a one-person show generating a modest income…so what’s there to protect?

The answer is maybe a little, but maybe a lot. For example, your innovative idea for a new product sold through your business might make you a multi-millionaire through sales, and your patent for that idea may also generate sizable income. You might offer stock options, or own them, decades from the day you are reading this post. But without a prenup or postnup, you may lose these items in a divorce. You could also lose the reputation that brings business to your door, if your ex-spouse decides to vent on social media, as if social media weren’t problematic enough for litigants in a divorce proceeding.

If the pendulum swings in the other direction, and your business tanks, a prenup will protect your spouse from debt and other economic fallout.

Regardless of your business’ trajectory in the future, you can take control of the unknown through using a pre/postnuptial agreement in the same way people purchase life insurance or car insurance: you can know that you are protected as much as you can be, especially if you use the services of a licensed attorney with decades of experience in family law.
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Warning: All posts on this website contain general information about legal matters for broad educational purposes only. The information is not legal advice, and should not be treated as such. This blog post does not create any attorney-client relationship between the reader and he DADvocacy™ Law Firm.