Ido Jamaica Magazine

Yours, Mine, Ours
Protecting
Premarital
ASSETS
Claudeen Stewart
ou are planning
Y
your dream wedding
and can’t help but
fantasize about your
new life with that
special someone. As
the day draws closer everything starts
to come together beautifully – and
you are elated about your choices
from venue to food to guests. And
yes, emotions flare occasionally
because you really want the day to be
a smashing success. You have even
gone through counselling and you
feel ready to take on this marriage -
but in the height of the excitement
you may have overlooked a very
important decision.
This important, forgotten step is the
‘protection’ of your assets and the
business ventures you worked so hard
to build prior to the relationship and
the marriage.
So let’s be real, many persons enter
into marriages with the expectation
that they will build a future and as
such the last thing on one’s mind is
the question, “How do I protect my
property in case of a divorce or worse,
death?” Our suggestion - create a
prenuptial agreement. Yes, it can be
a very controversial and emotional
discussion between parties, but it can
save a lot of heartache and money
when the time comes to distribute
assets belonging to either spouse.
And truth is, each party is more likely
to be reasonable about things at that
juncture in the relationship than when
the battle lines have been drawn and
love turns to hate – especially if a third
party is involved.