This is why you need a prenup…

Think you don’t need a prenup? Prenups are for really rich people, celebrities, or people who own property in 28 different states? Think again…here’s why you need a prenup…

1. You have a business-Even if it’s a small one. The growth, appreciation, and expansion of your business can potentially be divided when you divorce. So that little cookie baking business you have now that made you $200 last year? One day, it may hit it big, be your primary source of income, and be known nationwide, and when it does, if you divorce, your business will be valued, and your spouse will be entitled to a payout for his half of the business.

2. You have an inheritance or your own money stashed somewhere. It’s nonmarital property now. But should you start depositing marital funds into it, or using it to pay for marital expenses, or start treating it like its both you and your spouses, it could be subject to division later on.

3. Your spouse is ill, or could get ill-There are many factors which determine when you will pay alimony. The health of your spouse is only one of them, but its an important one. If your spouse is ill, and unable to work (or limited), you are a prime candidate to pay alimony. Courts don’t like leaving ill spouses without .

4. You plan to have a child and one of you will be staying home to raise it-Again, this is only one factor in determining alimony, but an important one–you could end up paying alimony to a spouse who stays home, and foregos a career, to raise your child.

5. You get a lot of stuff from your family-If you have a trust fund, or real estate, given to you by family, and you start commingling it, using its assets, or drawing from it, it could be deemed marital and subject to division on divorce.

6. You make more than your spouse-You don’t need to be a millionaire to pay alimony. If you make, for example, 60K, and your souse makes 30K, even that difference could lead to an alimony award.

Prenups are sensitive subjects. No doubt you’ll face the “If we’re gonna be together forever why do we need a prenup?” question. But prenups are protection, and they don’t have to be one-sided–they can protect both of you, solidify your rights if you divorce, leading to less uncertainty, and result in a quicker, cheaper divorce, with less fighting. And, if you never need to use it….all the better….