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Can a Prenup Protect Future Assets in New Jersey?
Prenuptial agreements, colloquially known as “prenups,” are primarily intended to protect assets that are owned at the time of the marriage. Any property acquired after the ceremony is typically considered jointly owned marital property. The court will determine the equitable distribution of joint property during the divorce proceedings. All that being said, a prenuptial agreement may lead to a reconsideration of specified assets when the equitable distribution is being determined. For more information on how a prenup can protect future assets in New Jersey, please continue reading, then contact an experienced Ocean County prenuptial agreement attorney today.
How can a prenup protect future assets in New Jersey?
In our fair state, prenuptial agreements are meant to define separate assets acquired prior to the marriage, excluding them from equitable distribution. With a prenuptial agreement, you can specify what property belongs to which spouse and what will be done with the property during divorce proceedings. Assuming you explicitly included such a condition, you can state that any property purchased using personal funds will remain the property of the spouse who purchased it. Furthermore, you can outline that, in the event you used personal funds to improve a marital property, you are entitled to a portion of the marital property commensurate with your personal contribution.
How does a prenup protect future assets in New Jersey?
With a prenuptial agreement, you can retain assets of your future earnings. What constitutes “marital property” will be dictated by the prenuptial agreement. In most cases, the marital property in question will be divided in proportion to the contribution from each party, so long as you can prove that the marital property can be traced back to your separate property. If that is the case, your prenuptial agreement may be used to protect the following assets in the event of marriage dissolution:
- Bank accounts
- Savings accounts
- Sources of income
- Homes
- Cars
- Inheritance
- Stocks
- Bonds
What can’t a prenup protect in New Jersey?
Considering that prenuptial agreements are designed to address financial issues, a prenup can’t include personal preferences, such as who has what chores, where to spend the holidays, whose name to use, details about child-rearing or what relationship to have with certain relatives. Also, we would not be doing our jobs if we did not inform you that a prenuptial agreement can’t be used to predetermine child custody and child support. That must be decided by the parties and the court at the time of the divorce.
Please reach out to a skilled Ocean County divorce attorney if you have any further questions about prenups or other family law matters.
Contact our experienced Ocean County firm
If you need a divorce and family law attorney in Ocean County, New Jersey, contact the Law Office of Sarina Gianna, LLC today to schedule a consultation.
