Premarital agreements are traditionally seen as a means to protect assets. One spouse may be entering the marriage with a great deal of money, a business, or something else that he or she may want to ensure keeping in the event of a divorce.
However, an article from Glamour suggests that a new generation may be using these contracts to protect much more than their bank accounts.
An Emotional Investment Worth Protecting
While premarital agreements are still seen as valuable for ensuring financial transparency and protecting assets, there is a new trend, particularly among millennials. Couples are including clauses designed to protect the emotional investment they are making in their marriage.
The author of the article explains how she included a clause in her premarital agreement that required that she and her spouse go to as many therapy sessions as years of marriage prior to moving forward with a divorce. The idea is that both spouses would agree ahead of time that marriage is an emotional investment worth protecting.
Prior to including such a detail in a premarital agreement, the article warns that couples should be aware that this is considered a “soft clause.” This means that courts may not be able to enforce clauses requiring pre-divorce therapy sessions, or other such similar provisions, in the same way that they are able to enforce asset protection measures.
Spouses should seek the advice of a skilled divorce attorney prior to getting too creative with their premarital agreements because they risk creating agreements that may prove not to be legally binding when needed.