Marriage is a legal contract between two people. While for many marriages, perhaps most, a prenuptial agreement is a good idea, it certainly ought NOT to be compulsory. For one thing, a prenuptial agreement is a contract too, meaning that you'd be compelled to enter into a pre-contract contract!
Because marriage is a legal contract, requiring a prenuptial "agreement" (contract) would open the door to requiring preliminary contracts for all sorts of other legal contracts. For example, before you hire a contractor to put a new roof onto your house, you might be compelled to enter into a "pre-roof-al" agreement that you will supply free food and drink to everyone who works on your house. Then your "work force" might balloon to dozens of people!
COMPELLING people who wish to enter into legal contracts to first have pre-contract contracts is a good idea only for bottom-feeding lawyers and people who love Big Government and believe Big Government ought to regulate every moment of our lives. (People who LIKE being treated like criminals at the airport!)
Second, most prenuptial agreements in today's world are made if one or both of the people who plan to marry have property or other assets that they want to protect in case of divorce. Many people don't HAVE substantial assets when they're planning on getting married; I sure didn't, and neither did my husband. Why should we have been COMPELLED to work out a contract on what would happen to my 12-year-old Honda Civic and his ancient color TV if we ever divorced?
"Compulsory" agreements mean that you need to add taxes to pay for a government department of making sure that people who are planning to get married know they HAVE to have a prenuptial agreement. Then you need taxes to hire people to track down scofflaws and prosecute them. You need taxes to pay the D.A., the judge, and the staff of the courthouse to try scofflaws and impose fines on them. Then you'll need taxes to hire people to collect the fines or to prosecute people who don't pay the fines. Eventually, you'll need taxes for more space in prison. Anyone for more taxes? Anyone? . . .
I would strongly urge couples who are planning to get married to enter into prenuptial agreements — BUT, this would not be a prenup about money. My kind of prenup would make sure that both people are on the same page when it comes to the big issues of every marriage: how will they handle their finances? Who will do which chores (especially taking out the trash and the various chores of housework)? Will he commit in writing always to put down both seat and lid before he flushes? Will she commit in writing to take only half of the closet and drawer space? Will both of them promise never to drink out of the carton? Will they take turns being the one who pays when eating out, at the movies, or whatever?
In a good marriage, the partners have no trouble communicating with each other — from how their day went to their secret fears for the future. Can each prospective partner agree to listen more than he or she talks? Can they agree to respect and value each other's opinion? Can they agree that when disagreements arise, they'll fight fairly and "never let the sun go down on their anger"?
Do both prospective partners want children? If one does and the other doesn't, it's better to find this out now. What happens if the partners agree on "no children" and there's an accident? What if they DO have children, and then the marriage breaks up? Are they mature enough to care more about their children's emotional health than their own?
And speaking of maturity, what about families and friends? Is one prospective partner a Mama's Boy or Daddy's Girl? Given that the two are contemplating creating a new family, are they TOO involved in their current family's life? Or are they not involved ENOUGH in their current family's life? If he's marrying both her AND Mommie Dearest, or if she's marrying both him AND Tony Soprano, it's far better to find out before it's too late to avoid divorce.
Does she like his friends, and does he like hers? It's a major red flag if the person you're thinking about marrying has no friends. A person with no friendship skills is going to enter his or her closest friendship EVER with a serious handicap. It's also a major red flag if he hates her friends, or she thinks his friends are a bad influence.
These are just a few of the issues that the best kind of prenuptial agreement ought to explore — not what will happen if the marriage fails, but what will happen to make the marriage succeed.
That's the only kind of prenup that ought to be "compulsory." And I say "compulsory" in quotation marks because I do NOT mean we should have all sorts of new taxes to pay for a new department of Sticking the Government's Nose Where It Has No Business!