Kevin McCormally: I am Kevin McCormally of Kiplinger's and I am here with Janet Bodnar, Deputy Editor of Kiplingers Personal Finance magazine to talk about prenups agreements. Janet when you are planning a wedding it seem often unromantic to drop a document about what happens if the marriage fails. What is a prenups? And who needs it?
Janet Bodnar: Well not everyone needs a prenups. It certainly would have come in handy foe example for Anna Nicole Smith who went all the way to the supreme court to prove that her wealthy husband had promised her half of his estate, but she wasn't in the will if she would have had a prenups, it would have made things much easier for her.
Kevin McCormally: But this is really just for wealthy people?
Janet Bodnar:Actually not, it's actually better for people who aren't so wealthy because if get into one of these legal arguments it can eat up much of a smaller estate and you really want to avoid that.
Kevin McCormally: So does almost everybody need a prenups?
Janet Bodnar: Well not everyone, certain cases if you are getting married later in life for example so you have already accumulated a lot of assets it might be for you also if you are in a second marriage and you have children from the first marriage that you would like to protect might also be good for you.
Kevin McCormally: What kind of things do couples put in a prenups?
Janet Bodnar: Well you might say for example, suppose you have a vacation home and you want that to go to your children from a previous marriage as suppose to current spouse, you can put that in a prenups. On the other hand, you can also say things like if this marriage should end each spouse would be entitle to 'X' amount of assets accumulated during the marriage. So, you know how much you would get in case of divorce.
Kevin McCormally: Okay if I said I need a prenups, how would I go back getting one drawn up that would be legally enforcible.
Janet Bodnar: We should see it later and each of you should see your own lawyers, so that you have an independent person working out for you.
Kevin McCormally: Thank you very much Janet.
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