Family Law

Nobody wants to think at the beginning of a marriage that it will ever end in divorce. However the statistics on divorce in the United States cannot be ignored. Here are some examples:

o In 2003 2.3 millions couples married and 1.3 million couples divorced.

o In 2003 the Bureau of the Census projected that 4 of 10 first marriages will end in divorce.

o People between the ages of 25 to 39 make up 60% of all divorces.

o Over one million children are affected by divorce each year.

o Approximately 1/3 of divorced parents remain bitter and hostile several years after the divorce.

o 75% of women and 80% of men remarry within 5 years after divorce.

o Second marriages are at greater risk of ending in divorce that first marriages.

o More people are part of second marriages today than first marriages.

The sad fact is that, in more than half of the cases, marriages have a beginning, a middle, and an end. And anyone who has been through a divorce will tell you that, without a prenuptial agreement, the end of a marriage can be a litigation nightmare for the parties, for their children, and for other family members.

A properly drawn and executed premarital agreement provides the parties with a measure of certainty as to how property and debts will be divided at the end of an unsuccessful marriage and may greatly reduce or even eliminate the issues which must be expensively litigated. The trouble and expense of drafting and executing a prenuptial agreement generally does not begin to compare with the trouble and expense of the legal battle resulting from the absence of a prenuptial agreement.

SOURCE: FamilyLawPages.com