Advice for DC who will be asked to sign a prenup

[Anonymous]

For those who've had to sign a prenup, aside from DC getting their own lawyer to review, what advice do those who have BTDT have? Assume there will be children and other partner's family has education trusts for children/grandchildren etc.

DH and I have no experience with prenups.

[Anonymous]

Family assets a spouse brings to the marriage are protected, as would be any inheritance provided assets aren't commingled. Otherwise any wealth acquired during the marriage should be evenly split. I would tell your DC not to agree to anything less than that. If there are education trusts in the mix, wonderful, but shouldn't be relevant to a pre-nup.

[Anonymous]

Make sure to fully fund their own retirement accounts.

[Anonymous]

I am not experienced in this, but make sure there is a discussion about the spouse who would be taking a maternity leave/or in case of stay at home parent situation? This is assuming they are planning to have kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Family assets a spouse brings to the marriage are protected, as would be any inheritance provided assets aren't commingled. Otherwise any wealth acquired during the marriage should be evenly split. I would tell your DC not to agree to anything less than that. If there are education trusts in the mix, wonderful, but shouldn't be relevant to a pre-nup.

And it is easiest if the 'off limits' assets are in a trust.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Family assets a spouse brings to the marriage are protected, as would be any inheritance provided assets aren't commingled. Otherwise any wealth acquired during the marriage should be evenly split. I would tell your DC not to agree to anything less than that. If there are education trusts in the mix, wonderful, but shouldn't be relevant to a pre-nup.

This seems key.

[Anonymous]

Find an attorney who is used to representing the person who has been asked to sign one. They will know exactly what to do and what to advise.

[Anonymous]

The couple needs to talk about how they want to live. If they’re going to use family wealth to buy a bigger house, change jobs, have a SAHP to etc then it’s not far for the partner who didn’t come in with the money to live under the threat of a stingy prenup, particularly if they might SAHP. You can write a generous prenup.
If the inheriting partner is not going to live on that money and they’re both going to have similar earnings, savings etc except using a trust to put tuition then it’s not as important.

[Anonymous]

Is this for the husband/wife existing wealth or to protect the inheritance of one of them?

[Anonymous]

You tell them not to agree to it. This is a red flag.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You tell them not to agree to it. This is a red flag.

That's not true at all. Very common among wealthy people. I owned a business so protected my business and some other assets. My husband has a pension and some other assets he protected. Goes both ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You tell them not to agree to it. This is a red flag.

Not at all. It's very reasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Find an attorney who is used to representing the person who has been asked to sign one. They will know exactly what to do and what to advise.

This. Your kid needs her own lawyer.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for all the tips. Obviously our DC will find a qualified attorney.

I don’t believe a prenup is a red flag at all. I appreciate the post about how they will live in particular because I suspect they will live in a house paid for at least in part by trust funds etc and was wondering about that.

[Anonymous]

Tell them London is a lovely place to move and raise a family after marriage