There is enough historical and cultural evidence indicating that prenuptial contracts have been used for thousands of years, and that they date back to the ancient Egyptians. However, modern prenuptial agreements are not used only to divide assets in the event of a divorce, but also to outline several lifestyle expectations.
A prenuptial agreement is mainly used to outline exactly how a couple’s property and assets will be divided in the event of a divorce. These agreements are especially recommended when one of the parties is much wealthier than the other. Many prenuptial agreements also have infidelity clauses, and these have been fairly popular for a while now.
However, an increasing number of prenuptial agreements now also have lifestyle-related clauses that ban certain practices or behaviors. For instance, one type of prenuptial agreement may prohibit the other partner from gaining weight during the marriage. Similarly, persons are also inserting clauses about spending quality time with the other partner. Not surprisingly, it’s often the women who insert such clauses in their prenup.
These lifestyle clauses are becoming very important in prenuptial agreements, because the outline right at the very outset of the marriage, exactly what each partner expects from the other. Other clauses that clients often ask for are those that demarcate the division of the household responsibilities. Some couples can be extremely clinical about these divisions, detailing exactly what household duties they expect the other partner to perform.
However, such levels of micromanagement in a prenuptial agreement are often a recipe for disaster, and are not recommended by family law experts at all. There has to be a level of trust for any marriage to be successful, and that level is not reached when you use your prenup to set strict rules about fairly superficial issues.
