No couple enters marriage believing that their love story will someday end. Statistically, however, one in three will walk down the aisle—and eventually into a courthouse to file their dissolution of marriage. Yet only 5 percent of to-be-weds sign a prenuptial agreement.
A prenup offers protection for both parties if you go your separate ways. Since it’s legally binding within the state of registration, a marital agreement can influence the division of property and debt, or who gets child custody. “The interesting thing about prenups is you expect your partner to be a gold digger, you’re a gold digger yourself, or you don’t think this marriage is going to last,” speculates Tori Dunlap, creator of and author of . “The truth is that most couples have a prenup already. It is chosen for you by the state. You already have a hard-and-fast legal order of operations of what happens if you separate.”
