Prenups can cut financial stress in blended families?

Second marriages have a greater failure rate than first marriages. How often are the step children blamed for scuttling the relationship? There are many issues but one of them is almost certainly financial.

In the early days of “No Fault” divorce an inheritance was given far more credit than now. Even inheritances received after separation are included in the property pool for distribution. But not dollar for for dollar. The value of the bequest diminishes over time. Pre owned assets are treated the same way. It is the dreaded “Erosion Principle”. This “throw it all in the pool concept” is becoming far more common as.the baby boomers die and leave their assets to separating children.

A Prenup can solve that problem.

The most logical and fair Prenup is where both parties have adult children to whom they want to leave their assets, not a separating step parent. To quarantine those assets you must have.a Prenup. There is no other way to oust the jurisdiction of the Family Court. Will the Prenup be binding? Done properly by an Accredited Specialist Family Lawyer, it is very likely be found binding if challenged. It is in any event much better to have one than not.

Then you can tell your children that you have not married a gold digger.

Of course, the children must have their own Prenup in place to protect their inheritance when received.

Sorry, I can’t help you deal with a 14 year old feral step daughter.

The above legal issues also apply to de Facto and Same Sex relationships. For more information and articles, see my website under the Prenups tab. For the purists – they are legally known as Binding Financial Agreements under 90B or 9UB of the Family Law Act. But everyone knows what a Prenup is.

Peter Szabo

Author: Family Law Pratice Manual