Consider Prenuptial Agreements

 

Recent legal developments now permit the foresighted entrepreneur to lessen the risk of forfeiting property and income through a properly drafted prenuptial agreement ("Divorce," March). Before the enactment of current laws, which allow either spouse to bring about a divorce on the grounds of "irretrievable breakdown of the marriage," courts refused to enforce prenuptial agreements. This was based on the idea that, by contemplating divorce, such agreements were against the public policy favoring marriage.

Today, given the relative ease of divorce, there is a growing acceptance of properly drafted prenuptial agreements by courts in many states. As Ellen Wojahn's article indicates, there seems to be a high correlation between entrepreneur-ship and divorce. Any business owner contemplating marriage should seriously consider entering into a prenuptial agreement with his or her intended.