Reply to Would you sign a prenup?

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[quote=Anonymous]OP, does your husband work in the family business?  Do the parents plan to leave it exclusively to him?  If so, does he plan to work in it at that point?

I'm not a specialist in divorce law, but I believe that in many cases, money inherited by one spouse from his or her parents is not considered part of the marital estate unless it is comingled with marital assets.  So, if the parents sold the business and left the proceeds to your husband during your marriage to him, I don't think you would necessarily be entitled to share in them.  If he took those assets and combined them with money from other sources to buy your marital residence, that would be another story.

Anyway, I think there should be a way to draft a prenup that says the family business shall remain your husband's exclusive property as long as he does not spend more than __ hours a year overseeing or working in it.  The agreement could also say that any streams of income he receives from the businesses (profit distributions, dividends, whatever) are marital property to be shared in by you, but the going concern value (provided he doesn't cross the __ hours per year noted above) remain his alone.  If he does end up working full time in the business, then I think it would be fair for his interest to become part of the marital estate.  Otherwise, think of this as being analogous to them leaving him a trust fund that is set up so that you can never claim the principle, but you can share in whatever annual income is thrown off by that principle.

In general, I would have the reaction you had to a prenup in the context of a first marriage where neither party to the marriage had kids or major assets to protect.  But in this case, you're not talking about DH's assets, you are talking about the parents' asset.  I'm just not sure you have any real basis for feeling entitled to that.

In fact, I suspect the parents could get a lawyer to set up a trust so that the business passes to their son and then his children in a way that you can never claim it anyway,  even without a prenup.

As for the parents threatening to boycot the wedding, they will probably come around.  But don't underestimate the toll this will take on your fiance.  For his sake, consider getting a lawyer to help you understand what you'd be entitled to without a prenup and also to help you work out something that would be fair to you while meeting the parents' needs.[/quote]

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