Are Prenuptial Agreements Out of Date?

A prenuptial agreement – also known as an antenuptial agreement or a premarital agreement, and commonly shortened to “prenup” or “prenupt” – is a contract entered prior to marriage or civil union. Older generations have tended to shy away from prenups, but as it turns out, millennials are now taking advantage of the benefits of premarital agreements – and not simply for traditional issues such as finances and ownership of property.

Family law firms have begun noticing this trend, particularly, in regards to the more unusual requests included in millennial prenuptial agreements. There is a swell of financially-aware millennials requesting relationship agreements pre-marriage in the interest of protecting their assets. Many people in other generations find premarital relationship agreements strange, but what’s most interesting is the uptick in unorthodox requests within these agreements.

From maintaining a certain weight to stipulations about frequency of sex, these agreements cover more than just the division of a variety of assets for long-term couples. Other unusual requests that have been made in relationship agreements include anything between the making of major purchases and pets. They encompass aspects such as lifestyle patterns and romance, often holding experiences in the same regard as physical belongings, another hot topic issue that have been commonly touched upon by millennials.

This is especially important in California, where common law marriage – marriages that are not civilly or religiously registered – isn’t legally recognized, because cohabitation agreements essentially serve the same purpose to unmarried couples as prenuptial agreements do to married couples.

If you are interested in seeking legal counsel for prenuptials or other family law matters, reach out to our firm for help!