Prenups Are Trending and Here’s Why Millennials Are Getting Them

First comes love, then comes…the prenuptial agreement? It may not be something you thought about before getting hitched, but for millennials, writing up a legal doc that divvies up your assets in case of divorce is becoming—dare we say?—all the rage. We checked in with Erica Bernstein, an associate at the Chicago-based law firm Berger Schatz, to find out more about the trend.

First things first: Why the trend? According to Bernstein, the reason is twofold. 1) More and more people are exposed to divorce proceedings—through a personal experience, through family or friends or even through celebrities on TV. The more you hear about it, the more likely you are to think about what you would do in a similar situation. 2) Studies show couples are getting married later in life. This means prenups aren’t just for people protecting major inheritances anymore—they’re for people who’ve had meaningful careers before marriage and want to protect their business interests, condos they’ve purchased, assets they’ve accumulated and more.

Interesting. But how do you even go about getting a prenup? You can draw one up yourself, but Bernstein strongly advises against it. Sure, it costs more to seek out the assistance of an attorney, but there are many nuances that go into prenuptial agreements that you might fail to consider on your own. Worse, if your agreement doesn’t comply with the law (which varies from state to state) or fails to include certain provisions related to your assets, there’s a risk that it won’t be valid at all.

Yikes, just another thing to add to the wedding to-do list. To each their own.

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