The purpose served by prenuptial agreements is one of the most misunderstood concepts in the entire legal system. Married and unmarried people alike often subscribe to the idea that these agreements come about as a result of distrust between future spouses, or that they are a means for wealthy individuals to protect themselves from potential spouses who are looking to marry for financial reasons only. Hence the notion that asking one’s fiancé to sign a prenuptial agreement is a romance-defeating gesture. All of this is incorrect.
To better understand the reason prenuptial agreements exist, consider that state legislatures are faced with the task of enacting divorce and inheritance laws that apply to every married couple living in the state. That is the way laws work – they are designed to apply to everyone. Unfortunately, not all couples have the same feelings about property rights, alimony, and other such issues.
Prenuptial agreements are nothing more than a way for couples to modify the laws of their state to bring them into accordance with the couple’s own views. Not everything about the law can be altered – future child support obligations cannot be done away with, for example. But generally, the one-size-fits-all divorce laws that would otherwise apply can be totally modified to suit the couple’s wishes. This can be especially useful to couples living in the handful of “community property” states who do not want to be subject to that system of property law.