Keeping Separate Property Separate Without Prenup

Keeping Separate Property Separate Without a Prenup

Keeping Separate Property Separate Without Prenup

Your Wedding is Coming Up, and Your Fiancee Won’t Sign Prenup

So your wedding is in less than a month, and your fiancee won’t sign a prenup.  If the issue is that you haven’t brought it up, here is how you may be able to still get a prenup without hurt feelings.

It’s Too Late

If the issue is that it’s too late (you must always leave 2-3 months prior to your wedding for a prenup!), you may still be able to protect what you had before your marriage.

Keeping Separate Property Separate Without a Prenup

If a prenup is out of the question, and you still want to get married, here are some alternatives that may protect you.

Inventory What You Had Prior to Marriage

Take a snapshot of all of your accounts prior to the marriage.  If you own a house prior to marriage, keep the last mortgage statement prior to wedding day.  Get an appraisal of the house value.  If you have a business, you may want to get it valued.

Keep Your Accounts Prior to Marriage Separate

After you get married, open a joint account with each other.  NEVER co-mingle your prior accounts by depositing marital money.  Most of you know that if you do not have a prenup, all of your earnings during marriage are community.  It is essential that you never mix your prior to marriage accounts with marital money.

If You Had a House Prior to Marriage Not Paid Off, Use Pre-Marriage Funds to Pay Mortgage

If you happen to have a lot of premarital money sitting around, keep using this money to pay mortgage on the pre-marital house.

The moment you use marital money to pay down a pre-marital asset, there arises a Moore Marsden calculation.

Be Diligent; Do NOT co-mingle.

If you do not have a prenup, you need to be diligent in your marriage to protect your separate property.  Always maintain the separateness of character by keeping it in a different account.  This goes for your gifts and inheritance as well.  Most people know they are by nature separate, however, a problem arises when you put separate stuff into a joint account.

@lawyerkelly #prenuptialagreement #divorcetips #familylaw #communityproperty #separateproperty #divorceattorney #SoFiMoneyMoves ♬ Bad Infomercial (Long) – Mashcroft

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