Commonly referred to as a “prenupt” or “prenup”, a prenuptial agreement is a contract that is agreed upon and signed by two people prior to being married. The content of a prenuptial agreement can vary widely. However, it usually deals with issues such as the “division of property” (who gets what – ex. wife gets the house, husband keeps everything else) if the couple ends up divorcing. It also often looks at the ideas of “spousal support” (ex. – husband makes more money so they will be obligated to support their soon to be ex-wife with so much money) and “child custody” either during and/or after the divorce is finalized. Laws around the world often vary in terms of recognizing these agreements as legal documents or not. Historically in the United States, judges would often frowned upon these agreements and would not acknowledge them, as they were corrupting what marriage was supposed to be about. However, in today’s world they are almost always recognized but they are still not always enforced.
Many celebrities and people with money who are marrying others who may not be as financially successful are often found to arrange a “prenuptial agreement” so that in the case of divorce they do not lose their hard earned money to their spouse, who they feel does not deserve half of what they own. A good example of this would have to be Donald Trump, a multi-billionaire, whose third marriage to supermodel Melania Knauss (now Trump) had a prenupt. This only makes sense as Trump, although he knows Melania loves him, would stand to lose upwards of 1.5 billion dollars in a divorce that did not contain a prenupt. On the whole though, prenuptial agreements are at best a partial solution to eliminating the threats of marital property disputes during divorces. But, they are not the final word.