Richard Branson’s wife just died and in the obituary he’s quoted as saying that they didn’t have a prenup because he felt it cheapened the relationship. She was his second wife.

Asking for a prenup when you’re both so young and don’t have the money in the bank seems like a tough way to start the relationship. It’s like you’re putting up walls when you have nothing to protect.

Can a prenup, even when it is well written to protect asset, be invalidated by a judge? I am sure it has happened many times before, right?

My brother is a tech whiz and married his wife when she was in medical school, both were 27. He was on the verge of selling his startup and got an agreement where she would get a substantial payout if things went south but not half his assets. He got a ton of money from the sale and they’re still married happily 20 years later. She makes good money but not on his level, and she didn’t hesitate to sign. You should get good legal advice.

Prenup.

Anonymous wrote:I would not. I think of prenups as more for situations where one party has a ton of money (more than a few million) and the other is basically broke. Like a very lopsided arrangement.

What you describe is more typical… the guy has already chosen to marry someone in a lower-paying career, which is pretty common, but doesn’t sound like he’s highly wealthy yet. Either the guy is in it or he’s not. If he wants more financial security, he should marry a career woman, not marry a future sahm that he is not interested in supporting.

+1.

You are in your 20s. If money is this important to you, why not find a woman who is wealthy?

It depends on several factors. For example, would you expect your spouse to give up potential career moves because your family does not need the money since you are already wealthy? Would you expect her to take longer maternity leaves because she can "afford" to since you have resources? If you divorce her with children, would your children live a 75k lifestyle in her house and a millionaire lifestyle in yours? How does the prenup address such issues?

Real life example: In my case, I went to law school after getting married, and the school calculated my financial aid based on my husband's income and assets. So I got nothing. If I were single, I would have gotten some need based aid but ended up with loans for the entire cost. If we had a prenup, I would expect it to account for this.
Career wise I would have been better off in NYC, but my husband would have hated it there
We stayed in DC. I would expect a prenup to account for these decisions.

I would not. I think of prenups as more for situations where one party has a ton of money (more than a few million) and the other is basically broke. Like a very lopsided arrangement.

What you describe is more typical… the guy has already chosen to marry someone in a lower-paying career, which is pretty common, but doesn’t sound like he’s highly wealthy yet. Either the guy is in it or he’s not. If he wants more financial security, he should marry a career woman, not marry a future sahm that he is not interested in supporting.

Always have a prenup.

Prenups are always a good practice, less in terms of the specific division of property, which can be important as here, but in terms of minimizing transaction costs in case things go wrong. Acrimonious litigation will dissipate all but the largest marital estates. Obviously if the prenup is too aggressive it can be a major problem for the other party, and rightly so, but to the extent he proposes something reasonable it doesn’t have to be.

You need a prenup

Yes to both.

What 28 year old making it this big professionally gets married at 28?

It would really depend on the prenup.

He'd be smart to insist.

28(M) is preparing to marry a 26(F), and has the potential to earn $5 million in stock if his company is acquired or goes public within the next year. Currently, he makes $300K per year, while she earns $75K annually. They've been dating for 3 1/2 years. Should the 28-year-old man ask his fiancée to sign a prenuptial agreement, and could it potentially be a deal breaker?