A prenuptial agreement is a contract between two people who plan to marry. They may be called a "antenuptial agreement," which means an agreement made before the marriage. Prenuptial agreements set forth rules to resolve potential problems of support and distribution of property at the end of the marriage on the death of either party or through divorce. Most people don't think about their legal rights and duties when they decide to get married. Everyone immediately thinks about those rights when divorce is contemplated.

When you get married, the law gives you and your spouse certain legal rights to property. This can include property you owned before you were married. The law provides for how property will be handled in the event of a divorce or death for those who haven't planned ahead. Since this includes almost all of us, you shouldn't feel bad about it.

You can think of a prenuptial agreement as a will for your marriage. Just as a will can avoid some of the sticky problems of probate, a prenuptial agreement can avoid some of those same problems in probate or divorce.

One of the problems with letting Florida law decide how to handle your property in the event of a divorce or death, is that the law permits a judge a great deal of room to interpret the law and how that law should be applied to the facts of a case. The judge has a great deal of discretion which is necessary if our society is to resolve disputes fairly. But with that discretion comes a great deal of uncertainty about how things will be resolved. A judge may decide in a way that you feel is wrong or not what you intended. The entire legal system depends on the quality of the judges and lawyers involved in the process. As with all human institutions, there are bound to be mistakes. The prenuptial agreement helps you write the rules and plan the outcome without leaving it to someone else's discretion.