Premarital Agreement Lawyer

When planning a wedding, you want to focus on knowing that you’ve found the person with whom you will spend the remainder of your days, and that your marriage will stand the test of time. Sadly, this is not always the case. Increasingly, happy and loving couples are entering into premarital agreements before tying the knot. These contracts, rather than serving as a symbol of distrust or greed, can offer peace of mind to both spouses that they will have certain rights and protections in the event of a divorce. If you’re planning to be married in the Chicago area and wonder if a premarital agreement might be a good idea for you and your future spouse, contact the premarital agreement lawyer at MacDonald, Lee & Senechalle for a consultation.

Save the time and expense of a drawn-out divorce

Relationships can decay and end for unpredictable reasons. Sometimes the anguish and grief of a breakup can cause people to act in ways they normally wouldn’t. Filing unnecessary motions or fighting over small issues simply to cause their spouse discomfort can needlessly draw out the proceedings. Having a premarital agreement in place which lays out a division of assets in advance can save you thousands of dollars in legal fees and months – if not years – spent mired in a trial.

Premarital agreements are especially useful prior to a later-in-life marriage

When you marry later in life, you’re more likely to have built a career and made major purchases with money you’ve worked hard to earn. You may have been married in the past, as may have your future spouse. You would both have more to lose in a divorce, and are also likely to be more realistic about your prospects for divorce. Creating a premarital agreement can offer you the peace of mind that, if a second marriage does not work out, you’ll be saved from additional spousal support payments or another contentious divorce.

Ensure that your children from a prior relationship are protected

You and your spouse may be comparable in terms of earning capacity and, as a result, have agreed that it would be unnecessary to include the other spouse in your will. Many affluent spouses instead agree to leave their estates to charitable causes close to their hearts, or to children and grandchildren who can use these funds to offer them a head start in their adult lives. In Illinois, the legal concept known as the “elective share” allows widowed spouses who were not included in their spouse’s will or were only nominally included to nevertheless take a third of that deceased person’s estate. A premarital agreement stating that the spouses agree not to exercise their elective share would override this right, and ensure that your children from your current or previous marriage would receive the largest share of your savings possible.

Create Effective and Enforceable Premarital Agreements

Create a premarital agreement you can rely on to protect your interests and the interests of your children in the event that you divorce or predecease your spouse. Contact the experienced and thoughtful premarital agreement lawyer at MacDonald, Lee & Senechalle for a consultation, at 847-310-0025 (Hoffman Estates), or 847-298-5030 (Des Plaines).