Recently in Prenuptial Agreements Category

Maybe it is the recession, or the legal advice imparted by Kanye West in his song, Golddigger, but pre-nuptial agreements seem to be more popular than ever.

This new state of affairs is useful to everyone, including the legal system, as it helps to reduce the cost of divorce and mediation. However, it also means that when presented with a prenuptial agreement, professional gold-diggers have to up their game and exclude all the provisions that they can legally exclude.

Just as some helpful hints, here are three things that legally may not go into a Texas prenuptial agreement.

In what can only be hailed as a defeat for those children that come up with weird possible names they might get after marriage, Lauren Bush married David Lauren and went with Lauren Bush-Lauren instead of Lauren Lauren, reports ABC News.

Lauren Bush is part of the Bush family that has produced two presidents. David Lauren is the son of fashion mogul Ralph Lauren. Ms. Bush Lauren has previously worked as a model, so it is a marriage made in fashion heaven.

It looks like 85-year-old Hugh Hefner will no longer be getting this married this weekend, as planned. While this may be a sad decision between the couple, it will might just be saving the Playboy Magazine founder from a great deal of family law drama in the future.

KTLA News reports that Hefner's planned wedding to 24-year-old Playboy playmate Crystal Harris was called off after the two got into an argument over the phone this past weekend. Apparently, their wedding was supposed to take place on Saturday and more than 300 people had been invited to the occasion.

Kim Kardashian may not be a legal scholar, but it looks like the reality star is no fool when it comes to using the law to take control of her finances. Kardashian and her fiancee Kris Humphries are now drafting a prenuptial agreement, according to New York Daily News, so that they can each protect their own assets.

Who cares about the image of romance and staying together forever? The couple has stated that prenup is "the smart thing to do." Kardashian has a $35 million fortune that she doesn't want to give up in the case of her divorce. Meanwhile, Humphries has assets that he would like to hold onto as well. As an NBA star for the New Jersey Nets, Humphries is making an estimated $3.2 million per season. His family also owns a number of Five Guys Burgers and Fries restaurants, which reportedly makes his net worth an estimated $8 million.

ABC News reports that there's a growing number of people in this country who are choosing to sign cohabitation agreements. This might not be too surprising, considering that marriage rates are declining and that more non-married couples are choosing to live together.

Over the past 20 years, the number of non-married couples living together under the same roof has reportedly increased by 85 percent. Hence, there's a need for many people living together to legally define financial responsibilities within their relationship and to define which pieces of property belong to whom.

Before saying the words "I do" at the altar, it's important that you understand the financial commitment that you're making with your spouse-to-be. This could mean different things for each couple, but before getting married both partners should realize that in many cases, all assets and debts are to be shared without a prenuptial agreement in place.

Let's not forget that marriage often means combining credit card accounts and adding a partner's name to a property title. According to MSNBC, the average age of first-time brides and first-time grooms in the United States is increasing and is now at age 28 for men and age 26 for women. This means that couples are bringing more financial liabilities into their marriage, including credit-card debt, student loans, and mortgage debt into their first-time marriages.

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner is about to get married for the third time at 84 years of age, but he’s still saying no to a prenuptial agreement that would protect his multi-million dollar fortune. All Headline News reports that Hefner, who is engaged to 24-year-old model Crystal Harris, won’t bring up a prenuptial agreement in their relationship because he “actually cares” for his young fiancée.

Unless he is confident that his will can cover this new situation, as an elderly man, Hefner could be making a huge mistake by walking down the aisle with no prenup. While he may feel that divorce is unlikely between him and his gorgeous Playboy Playmate, there are other reasons for a prenuptial agreement besides the clarification on how property is to be divided in case of a split.

It's been barely six months since television personality Jesse James started dating the Los Angeles tattoo artist Kat Von D, but the two are already engaged and rumors say that they're planning their wedding for as early as next month. TV.com reported that James went through a dramatic divorce in Texas last summer with actress Sandra Bullock. They both currently reside in Austin, where Bullock continues to have a strong relationship with James' daughter Sunny.

For this reason, James is basically tied to living in Texas. Right now he and Kat Von D live separately, but there's been talk of having her relocate to the Lone Star state. It's still not clear where the couple will be having their wedding.

It looks like singer Jessica Simpson has learned a valuable lesson since divorcing Nick Lachey. The 30-year-old diva announced that she was engaged to former NFL player Eric Johnson last month, but this time around she says that she will be signing a prenuptial agreement.

New York Daily News reports that Jessica Simpson hails from Texas and has a "fashion empire" that is worth $1 billion. She also has a large amount of profits from her music career and various endorsement deals. Because of all the money that she has, it would be a good idea to sign a prenuptial agreement so that her financial assets can be protected in the case of a divorce. FindLaw states that a prenuptial agreement can also be beneficial in a marriage because the contract can clarify financial rights and responsibilities in a marital relationship.

Some people in the Lone Star state might see the signing of a prenuptial agreement as unromantic, but Texas family law attorneys say that such a contract is a smart way to protect your finances during and after a marriage.

If you're thinking that prenuptial agreements are not traditional, think again! The Economic Times states that prenuptial agreements have been in existence in Europe and Far Eastern countries for thousands of years in some form or another. Prenups used to be most common in royal or rich families in order to protect their wealth and assets.