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What to do when and if it all goes wrong? Well cleaning up the remnants of any marriage is far easier if there is a prenuptial agreement in place. While prenuptial agreements have historically only been seen as a tool of the rich to safeguard their assets, middle middle class and even working class people are now seeing their practicality.

Marriage is hard work. That line, 'To have and to hold until death do us part', now often frequently means, 'Or until we find someone we like better'. One in two divorces in the USA will end in divorce, and the statistics for those marrying for a second or third time are often not much better.

While divorce courts often split assets such as the marital home down the middle, bitter and expensive fights often break out when party in the marriage feels wronged. Having a prenuptial agreement that states such things as property division, care of the children and family pet's can ease the pain of divorce along with the costs.

In recent years, there has been a trend to include the division of such things as 'unexpected earnings' and to be able to divorce if a partner commits a behavior that while not legal grounds for divorce, would certainly be moral grounds for a divorce for a particular couple.

Unexpected earnings may include such things as one partner publishing a book, or creating an invention, not thought of at the time of the marriage. Behavioral aspects may include cyber cheating, giving one spouse grounds to divorce the other, as cyber cheating is only just beginning to be recognized in the US courts.

Prenuptial agreements can protect stay at home mom's or stay at home dad's so that in the case of divorce neither party is left penniless. As a former paralegal I have seen dreadful fights break out over who gets the beloved family pet, so including existing and future pets in a prenuptial agreement is also a growing trend.

A prenuptial agreement need not be an expensive or difficult undertaking. Many couples planning to marry simply sit down, discuss and write out their own agreement's and then have them Notarized by a Notary Public. Hopefully you will never need it, and may pull it out on your 25th Wedding Anniversary and simply laugh!

Learn more about this author, Melissa D. Ing.
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