Protecting Your Interests Begins Before The Wedding

A premarital agreement is a contract between two people who are planning to marry. It outlines how they will divide assets if they divorce and/or how your assets will be distributed when one spouse dies. Premarital Agreements are most often used in marriages where (a) one or both parties have already accumulated substantial assets before the marriage, (b) one or both parties have children from a prior marriage or relationship, (c) one or both parties own an interest in a business.
Mr. Anderson will consult with you about your concerns, give suggestions of how best to talk to your future spouse about the benefits of having a Premarital Agreement, and assist you in negotiating the terms of the Premarital Agreement. Finally, he will provide you with a Premarital Agreement that will provide customized, clear and enforceable rules to protect you and your family in the event of a divorce or death of one spouse. A well-drafted Premarital Agreement can help prevent a disastrous divorce experience or expensive & unpleasant litigation between a widow(er) & the family (or business partners) of a deceased spouse. Much like an insurance policy, you hope never to need it; but if you ever do, you will be very happy to have it.

Post-Marital Agreements are similar to Premarital Agreements in that they can control how a couple will divide assets if they divorce, and what assets will pass to the surviving spouse when one dies. The key difference is that they are created and signed by the parties after the marriage has already occurred. They are often created in response to an important change in the circumstances of the married couple. The change may be positive. For example, one spouse might inherit a large sum of money and desire to use it to enhance the marital standard of living without relinquishing a claim that the inheritance is still their separate property. The change may be negative. For example, one spouse may have done something that causes the other to consider filing for divorce. A Post-Marital Agreement can be a tool to help facilitate reconciliation of the parties and help to avoid a divorce. There are important requirements that Tennessee courts look for in order to assure that a Post-Nuptial Agreement is valid and enforceable.

Protect yourself. Avoid the possibility of a messy and expensive divorce by taking action before the wedding. Talk with J. Steven Anderson about how a Premarital or Post-Marital Agreement can protect you from disaster in the unfortunate event of a divorce.