Anonymous wrote:Prenups are the best way to protect PRE-MARITAL assets. Get one. If your fiancé balks, walk away.

Some people with good intentions and plenty of money of their own hate prenups. DH, for example, had quite a bit more money than I did when we got married, and when one of our friends mentioned "prenup," he had a very strong negative reaction, so we never even had the talk. Having working with an estate planning attorney for a short time, I know this is a thing for other people, too. So just know that even if a prenup makes financial sense, there is a relationship risk in bringing it up.

Another thing you could do is keep the first set of shares in a separate entity, maybe an LLC or a Trust, so they don't get comingled with any new shares. Then there is a clear differentiation if the marriage blows up quickly. Hopefully it's a long marriage and by the end of it everything is so comingled and entwined and there is so much money to go around that these shares will feel a nonissue.

99% of the time startup shares are worthless. Most (all?) states are very strict that you keep whatever you came into the marriage with if it ends. So if you enter with $500K in startup shares in your name alone, even if those hit $5M in appreciation at the time of divorce, that’s yours to keep because you had it from before the marriage.

It's a pre-marital asset. Unless your spouse was actively trading and increasing the amount due to the activity (finances, house renovation, etc.), it's yours. Like an inheritance would be.
Don't commingle the assets, keep it in a separate account.

Prenups are the best way to protect PRE-MARITAL assets. Get one. If your fiancé balks, walk away.

You need to clearly identify and keep separate pre-marital vs. post-marital assets.

This means keeping the shares you currently own in a separate, individual account, that only you can access that is not co-mingled with joint assets. Shares received post marriage can be trickier but generally, you need to keep it in a separate account that only you can access. I would talk to a pre-nup lawyer on the best way to handle the latter situation.

There is nothing wrong with protecting your premarital assets. Everyone who gets married signs a prenup, it's called a marriage certificate. It's just who decides the terms - you and your partner, or your government.

This is only ever an issue if you break up. Why do people feel entitled to stuff you had before you even met them? That's so greed and bizarre to me.

Pre nup very common to do this
However it sounds like you don’t trust the person you are marrying. Not because they f the prenup but because of c the second part of your question

Any shares after the marriage are shred what’s wrong with you? Don’t get married .

Anonymous wrote:Put them in a prenup. Once you both marry, al assets can be divided equally depending on your state!!

that doesn't sound correct or fair; it's an equitable distribution state, btw

Put them in a prenup. Once you both marry, al assets can be divided equally depending on your state!!

If single, but probably will be getting married, how are shares in a startup treated that are given to me prior to marriage? how about shares that may be given after marriage?