When young couples in New York marry, they usually expect their marriages to last decades. As a result, they might not see the need to create prenuptial agreements. However, prenuptial agreements may be particularly important for people to draft if they are marrying — or remarrying — near their golden years.
Before getting married in their 50s, for example, two people might want to explain in a prenuptial agreement how they plan to take care of their financial needs during their union. They can also lay out a plan for drawing from their retirement savings. For instance, if one person has more retirement assets, the two individuals might want to rely heavily on these assets and then use the other person’s assets to supplement them.
The prenuptial agreement can also come in handy for describing how the two parties want to distribute their shared property if they choose to divorce at some point. When two individuals get divorced in New York, they can keep their own separate property that they had before getting married. However, their shared property — known as marital property — has to be distributed in a manner that a judge considers to be fair. In light of this, the two parties can come up with a property distribution plan that would help both of them, especially if their levels of wealth are not equal leading up to their marriage.
Creating comprehensive prenuptial agreements is an involved and often complicated process. However, an attorney can help a person in New York to draft a well-thought-out agreement before walking down the aisle. The attorney’s chief aim when putting together this type of agreement is making sure that it protects the client’s rights and best interests in an unavoidable divorce situation down the road.
