by Zach Bigalke

Created on: March 12, 2008

Two people start dating. They find they have many common interests and begin getting serious. They have fallen in love. There is a proposal somewhere in there, and plans for the wedding of their dreams commences. Then, before the ceremony, the traditional meeting of the lawyers happens for the signing of the prenuptial agreement...

There are certainly instances where prenuptial agreements are both warranted and indeed necessary for the protection of both partners in a marriage. But to make these legal documents compulsory pre-marriage protocol is to cheapen the concept of what marriage is all about. In the United States, we already face this crisis... divorce rates continue to skyrocket, there are more single parents than ever before, and our society has lost the meaning of what marriage entails and symbolizes.

The union between two people through marriage is intended to be a lifelong commitment. No prenuptial agreement can aide in repairing our society's aversion to such a concept. Marriage these days occurs for many reasons - money, security, taxes... and, yes, sometimes even LOVE. Yet too many people are getting married before truly discovering whether or not the person with whom they are becoming bonded is the person with whom they wish to be bonded "until death do us part."

Prenuptial agreements serve but one purpose - to protect each party's fiscal interests should the marriage be dissolved. Perhaps what SHOULD be compulsory in the United States, rather than this document which boils marriage down to little more than a merging of assets, we need to find a system which ensures that frivolous marriages are prevented to the fullest extent.

I was married to my wife, Melanie, on the first of May last year. We had been together over five years before we determined to take the plunge, to tie the knot. We knew we would be together for a lifetime; no amount of paperwork could prevent that. Yet we ensured that we were happy with one another - working through the hard times, enjoying the good times together, living across the country from another for a time - before taking the time and resources of our legal system to become wedded. What this society needs is more than merely a mandatory binding legal document; it needs couples to grow and learn about each other BEFORE committing to such a meaningful step as marriage...

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