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On a 2nd or 3rd marriage, prenuptial agreements can help

On Behalf of | Aug 7, 2012 | Firm News

It’s practically a cliché to say that half of all marriages end in divorce. It’s true, but it’s also common knowledge. Here’s a more interesting statistic: 43 percent of all marriages are the second or the third marriage for either the bride or the groom.

On top of that, 67 percent of the second marriage and nearly three-quarters of the third marriages don’t last. These are people who have been though marriage — and divorce — at least once already. Yet a lot of them do not utilize premarital agreements that could save them a lot of time, energy and money.

Premarital agreements become even more important the more you age and the more assets you accumulate. Before marrying, it’s often a good idea to sit down with your partner to discuss finances, assets, estate planning and the like.

There’s a lot that can make a marriage that happens later in life a bit complicated: owning a home from a prior relationship, having adult children, and owning stocks and other property, to name a few.

Prenuptial agreements can be a good way to set the tone at the start of a marriage. It’s a particularly good idea if one spouse has more money or assets than the other. In any case, it’s good to learn from your mistakes. And if not having a prenuptial agreement proved a mistake in a previous marriage, it may be best to try something different the next time.

Source: CBS, “Marriage, the second or third time around,” Dee Lee, Aug. 2, 2012

• Our firm handles similar situations to the one discussed in this post. If you would like to learn more about our practice, please visit our Dallas family page.

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