In the Garden State, prenuptial agreements are meant to define separate assets acquired prior to the marriage so they are not subject to equitable division in the event of a divorce. Despite the common misconception, prenuptial agreements are not only beneficial to celebrities, billionaires and people who own dozens of pre-marital assets. In fact, the bulk of prenuptial agreements are hashed out for middle-class couples who want to enjoy their marriage with the peace of mind that they will be financially protected if their partnership ends. But what about future earnings? For more information on whether a prenup can protect future earnings in New Jersey, please continue reading, then contact one of our experienced prenuptial agreements attorneys in Bergen County, NJ today.
Do you need a prenup to protect future earnings in New Jersey?
A prenuptial agreement is a relatively painless method of defining premarital assets before you consider a divorce. With a prenuptial agreement, you may easily lay out whose property belongs to whom and what will happen to it during a divorce, Additionally, the prenuptial agreement may state that any property purchased with separate funds during the marriage will remain the property of the spouse who purchased it. One issue that arises is when either spouse spends money to improve their assets during the marriage. During a divorce, the other spouse could argue that some portion of the asset should be considered marital property if the first spouse used joint finances to pay for the improvements.
How does a prenup protect future earnings in New Jersey?
You can retain assets of your future earnings in a divorce if that condition has been specified in your prenuptial agreement. Your prenuptial agreement will define what constitutes marital property. This means you can specify that when property purchased during the marriage can be traced back to either party’s separate property, then the marital property in question will be divided in proportion to the contribution from each party in the event of the dissolution of the marriage.
What types of assets can a prenup protect?
The distribution of practically any physical asset may be outlined in a prenuptial agreement. These include, but are not limited to, the following examples:
- Bank accounts
- Savings accounts
- Sources of income
- Homes
- Cars
- Inheritance
- Stocks
- Bonds
For the record, prenuptial agreements can’t be used to outline child custody or child support arrangements. Those latter arrangements must be determined at the time of the divorce. If you have any further questions on these or other family law matters, please do not hesitate to reach out to one of our skilled Bergen County marital agreement attorneys today.
Contact our experienced Bergen County firm
To speak with our team of family law lawyers today, please contact us online, or through our Hackensack, NJ office at (201) 397-1750.
