One of the biggest divorces to hit the news recently was the divorce of Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen. Fortunately for these two celebrities and their families, their divorce didn’t stay in the news long. This is because the divorce was finalized not long after the story broke. The reason for this was reported to be an “iron-clad” prenup that divided their property without fuss. Both celebrities made gracious statements about their respect for each other and the years they spent together. Their intention to protect their privacy and peacefully co-parent their children seems clear.
Prenups for High Earning Couples With Established Careers
As two prominent, high-earning celebrities who earned a significant amount of money before their marriage, making a prenup was a smart move for Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen. Getting a prenup is becoming increasingly common among high-earning couples with dual incomes (whether they are in the public eye or not). Millennials are less threatened by prenups and see them as a part of life, especially when people are getting married later in life and two people come to the marriage with independent wealth or inherited wealth.
Why Are Prenups Helpful for a California Divorce?
In community property states, like California, property is split 50/50 in divorce. A prenup is a way to take control of this process and split your assets in a way that suits you, so they are not arbitrarily divided by a judge in a divorce case. If you mediate your prenup and subsequently mediate your divorce, you have even more control over the process, as you are never engaged in an adversarial process.
Can Prenups Protect My Privacy?
If you are a high profile or high net worth couple getting a divorce, privacy could be one of your top considerations. If you have a business or a nonprofit together or you have roles as business advisers and investors, a messy divorce could be extremely disruptive. The best privacy protection a prenup can give is by starting a conversation about finances early on and creating fair and respectful guidelines for how to divide your assets if necessary. The more efficient your asset division, the quicker and cleaner your divorce will be. The recent divorces of Brady and Bundchen, but also the second marriage of MacKenzie Scott wrapped up quickly out of court and were never extensively probed by the media.
A prenup may also be signed along with a non-disclosure clause which could specify that spouses don’t reveal information about assets, their relationship or their children. No matter what you decide, it’s important that these agreements are mediated by a divorce mediation professional with financial expertise. Prenups must be fair, respectful and balanced. One party should not feel under duress or walk away with less than they deserve. If agreements aren’t fair and respectful, they could be challenged later in the California courts. If you are going this route and you get a divorce you should mediate your prenup and your divorce with experienced West Coast Divorce Mediators.
How Does a Prenup Make Things Simpler If You Are Both Independently Wealthy High Earners?
If you have significant assets, a prenup makes things simpler by specifying how to divide assets. This is most useful for people who have successful careers, a business or significant investments by the time they get married. It is also extremely helpful if you have inherited property. During a marriage your previous earnings, investments, inherited properties or real estate can get “commingled” during the marriage which could make it harder to decide who gets what in a divorce. A prenup specifies that you want to keep certain property apart. A prenup could also include a clause about renegotiating certain aspects of the agreement subject to a growth in wealth or disparity in the incomes of the parties.
Whatever your individual situation, a prenup starts with a prudent and caring conversation about finances that introduces openness, honesty and a fall-back plan into your relationship. Being secretive or reticent about money can introduce problems into a marriage, so getting a prenup could actually improve your dialogue about these issues, which could improve your marriage.
At Divorce Options San Diego we have financial, legal and psychoanalytical expertise, which means we bring a caring but realistic approach to all our mediations. We can help you have a productive and sensitive conversation about your finances, which may result in a legally binding prenup or post-nup. If you are getting a divorce we can assist with dividing your assets according to any instructions in the prenup or post-nup, and we can negotiate or renegotiate any outstanding issues involving your finances. We specialize in high asset, complex divorces with an international component. We strive to make divorce as efficient, conflict-free and pain-free as possible. We are a full service divorce firm who provide document service as well as financial and legal consultation. We have offices in San Diego and Silicon Valley and can work with our clients remotely or in-person as desired. Please contact us to learn more about our West Coast divorce mediation services.
