A prenuptial agreement, also called a premarital agreement or antenuptial agreement, and commonly referred to as a prenup is a legally binding document(although its enforcement could be subject to the court's discretion and decision) that is signed by both partners before they marry primarily to state if and how the assets between them are to be shared in the event of a divorce or if one of the partners dies.
I actually used to think that prenuptials agreements were relatively recent developments in society, however, a quick Google search reveals that they have literally been around for over two thousand years. The earliest known prenups discovered by archeologists were written on papyrus scrolls in ancient Egypt over two thousand years ago. Prenups were also apparently a huge part of ancient Hebrew and Jewish culture, contained in marriage contracts called the ketubah.
So prenups have been deemed necessary by multiple portions of society for a very extended period of time, the question then arises, WHY? What is the possible reason for this phenomenon, especially if love is supposed to be more than enough for both parties to thrive on.
There really is no one answer that can fully sate the curiosity of the reader on this matter, however, I will try to offer some perspectives to help us all gain a little more insight into this matter that will probably make us leave here with even more questions💀😂.
I think the very first thing to examine is the fact that marriage as a social institution is statistically, largely inadvisable, in a way. And I know your eyes and mouth are probably wide opened right now, questioning by brazen audacity in challenging your dream romantic getaway. You can have my head, but before you do, let's go through a statistic together.
Currently, it is estimated that over 40% of marriages end in divorce. Consider this, if that amount were the ones that got bad enough it warranted divorce in court, what percentage of marriages do you think are currently crushing the spirit of the couples, leaving them chronically unhappy and sexless, but they can't divorce for a variety of reasons. I got you. It is estimated that between 10-15% if marriages are separated, but not legally divorced. Another 7% of married partners are estimated to still be together but are chronically unhappy in their marriages. I should add that the odds of death and bodily from parachuting is well below 0.5%, while the probability of your soul dying in bits in a marriage is about 60% or more.
Which makes one question why people still venture into marriage to begin with. Well, about that I think the potential benefits, if they can be achieved, far outweigh the downsides in people's minds that they are willing to riak it.
Love is not enough. Love has never been enough. Love will never be enough.
Too pessimistic?
I love my current girlfriend and I believe she loves me too equally or even more. However, we are currently at the brink of breaking up because she had a sudden religious conviction and wants to be a more serious Christian and I'm quite agnostic and don't have a strong affiliation with any one religion. What if this happens after marriage and we eventually have to divorce?
Personally, I have favourable and reasonable arguments, both for getting a prenup, and for not getting a prenup. However, I think I lean just a little slightly more towards the side of getting a prenuptial agreement than the other side. You can have my head if you will.
People switch up. People change. People pretend. All sorts of things happen that one did not plan or foresee. I think it is quite wise to protect one's self and have a stable surety to safeguard against these fluctuations in happenings. I really could go on and on about this topic, but let's halt here for now.
What do you think?