Prenuptial Agreement Checklist (69 Complete Questions People Need To Know)
It has every question that you and your significant other need to consider.
You can download a free copy of the prenuptial agreement checklist below.
Table of Contents
- How To Split Premarital Debts and Assets
- What To Do With Marital Property
- How To Manage Assets and Income
- How To Handle Credit and Debt
- What Is Your Working Agreement
- Who Pays Alimony and How Much
- Can You Lose Gifts From Your Family
- How Should You Pay Taxes
- What Will You Do If You Go Back To School
- How Long Your Agreement Should Last
- What If You Start A Business One Day
- What If There Is Fault For Your Separation
- What Happens In The Event Of Death Or Disability
- How To Get Your Prenup
Free Prenuptial Agreement Checklist
Download a free prenuptial agreement checklist that you can sit down with your partner to discuss. Fill out the form below.
Prenuptial Agreement Checklist
Your prenup will protect BOTH of you.
It doesn’t mean that you plan on divorcing.
It doesn’t mean you don’t trust each other.
It’s a guideline for how to handle unexpected events down the road.
These events can be things like:
- creditors trying to take money from you if your spouse dies
- you being responsible for 50% of debts you didn’t know about
- who will be the beneficiaries of your estates
- how to handle large money decisions
- how much will you pay or receive in alimony due to separation
- how to handle inheritances
- who will work or stay at home
How To Split Premarital Debts and Assets
Your prenuptial agreement checklist covers the assets and debts you each currently have.
Protecting premarital assets is what people normally think of for a prenuptial agreement.
But a prenup will also separate premarital debts too.
A prenup agreement will protect one spouse from the other’s debts like:
- student loans
- medical bills
- credit cards
- loans
In the event of a death or a separation, a prenup will protect the other spouse from these debts.
Let’s say that the husband has $150,000 in medical debts.
Of course, during the marriage, the wife will be helping him pay that off.
But if he dies, creditors can come after her for those debts.
Or, if they separate in 10 years, she could be responsible for 50% of the remaining balance.
Let’s talk about the questions you want to discuss for this section of the prenuptial agreement checklist.
- How will you handle premarital assets and debts in the event of a divorce?
- Will the assets and debts remain separate property? Will go back to the person who accumulated them before the marriage?
- Will your separate property be inter-mingled with your marital property? What’s your plan to keep it separate?
- What if one spouse’s pre-marital property gets used to pay off the other person’s pre-marital debts? (i.e., student loans) Will the paying spouse need to get reimbursed or is it a gift?
- What if you use one spouse’s premarital property (i.e., savings) to buy a home you’ll own together? Will the paying spouse need to get reimbursed or is it a gift?
Things to think about for the finance part of your prenuptial agreement checklist.
If the marital property gets used to fund separate property, the separate property is not marital.
Let’s look at some examples:
- Money from a joint banking account gets used for a repair or bill on a separate rental property.
- One spouse’s inheritance gets transferred to a joint account.
- Money gifted from your parents getting used to pay down your marital home’s mortgage.
Separate property usually goes to the spouse who originally owned it.
But, separate property can be divided if:
- The other spouse contributed to getting the property, improving it, or growing it; or
- The other spouse’s share of the marital property is not enough to meet that spouse’s needs.
The next section of our prenuptial agreement checklist is what you are doing with marital property.
