Why Not an Online Service For a Prenuptial Agreement?

Do an online search for prenuptial agreements and you’ll come up with a whole bunch of online services promising you a quick, easy, and cheap – even free – prenuptial agreement and you may be tempted. As an attorney I ask you to think twice. Yet they promise you:

· It’s free* or for a low fee, maybe as low as $599.00.

· All you need to do is answer a couple questions from your couch.

· You’ll get it in minutes instead of months.

· You can even get it notarized for $50.00, if you want.

· Top attorneys are behind it.

Well…

· The free usually isn’t free but requires you to pay a monthly service for online legal services that you probably don’t need.

· Any attorney worth their salt will tell you that properly advising a client on a prenup involves much more than “a few simple questions.” At Bridelawyer we start with a consultation of at least an hour to assess what type of agreement you need, asking very specific questions based upon our experience and based upon what you tell us. From there, we have at least several more meetings before you will be signing on the dotted line. Yes, meetings can take place by video conference and execution of the documents may also be done by video, although it’s not our preference. We tell our couples to make the signing a celebration and to come to our office, enjoy our gorgeous waterfront location on the Hudson River and to enjoy a nice lunch or dinner at one of the nearby gorgeous waterside restaurants or in fabulous Hoboken, just a couple blocks away!

· Getting the documents in minutes rather than months is not only an exaggeration but is part of the problem. First it will not take months for your attorney to draft an agreement. Second, when it comes to enforcement, courts look to see if the parties truly negotiated the agreement, that each party had their own legal advice or waived it, and that no party was under duress – being forced to sign it. Something done in minutes hardly seems to fulfill the criteria. If the agreement isn’t going to hold up, then what’s the point?

· Since Covid, many states do now allow online notarization. Again, when it comes to enforcement this quick process may work against enforcement.

· Are top attorneys really behind it and what does this mean? The simple truth is don’t you want to meet and know the attorney who is taking care of such an important thing for you?

· Attorneys are regulated by state ethics rules, whereas these online services are not. That is why you don’t see law firms making promises they can’t keep, claiming they are “the best”, or otherwise doing advertising that is false or misleading.

You want a prenuptial agreement that will hold up and really serve you best? This is what you do.

1. Find an attorney licensed in your state who does these agreements regularly and knows their way around the family courts of the state.

2. Talk with your future partner and decide who is going to retain the attorney to draft the agreement. You each need your own attorney! Yes, you can discuss together generally what you want, but then one of you should meet with an attorney and see if what you think you want is what is in your best interest. You also should have an open discussion regarding what you make, what you own and what your debts are and how you are going to handle your finances. An attorney cannot represent both of you – which is much of the problem with the online services.

Your attorney is there to protect you. When we’re in love, we often don’t think rationally nor protect ourselves and that’s why you need a real attorney, not a computer program.

3. Talk frankly with your attorney about what you both have, what you want, your circumstances up to that point, your future plans, your business and employment, assets, health conditions, involvement of any children, elderly parents, possible inheritances, other obligations, how you currently handle your finances and how you plan to in the future and on and on. Simple questions? Not really. Yet all this information is important for a real attorney to advise you what possibilities exist, the likelihood things will be upheld, how courts generally determine if something is fair and equitable and what cannot be included.

4. If your attorney is drafting the document, they’ll draft it and you’ll give it to your fiancée to go over with his attorney and then the attorneys will go back and forth a couple of times consulting you in the process regarding the negotiations and what you want. If your fiancé’s attorney is drafting the agreement, you’ll get a copy and be asked to retain an attorney to go over it and have the full discussion we talked about above and then negotiations will begin.

5. Once negotiations are finalized, both of you and your attorneys should meet with a notary present to have the document signed and notarized. Can you do it through video conference? In many states you can, but as an attorney, I always advise that original signatures and doing things in person are always best when it comes to later challenges.

The other thing that I find funny about the online services is you’ll always find – not on their main page, but somewhere else on their site, little disclaimers such as:

“Before you sign, you may want to have a lawyer check the document to make sure you haven't forgotten anything.” or

“Even if you choose to go to an attorney later, you’ll have a complete document which will save you a lot of money!”

What possibly is the point of spending hundreds of dollars or more when you are going to need an attorney anyway? Where’s the mention of having each party represented by their own counsel? Look, certain provisions are standard in many different legal documents and most attorneys have developed their own set of basic documents through their career. Yet, when a client comes, they tailor that agreement to the client’s particular needs, they update it, confirm that no laws have changed, and include important details. This process is much different than a computer program that basically says “No children, assets below $100,000.00 – go to Form A, Children, no spousal support – Go to form B - , Children, spousal support – Go to form C…”

The most important thing that you get out of consulting with an attorney for a prenuptial agreement is the legal advice that you get to start your married life off on the right foot. Discussing your financial picture with your attorney and your future spouse will inevitably lead to all sorts of legal issues you were not aware of. Maybe you just started a craft business selling at fairs and didn’t realize you need to file taxes on that income. Maybe you thought your Living Trust protected you from creditors when it doesn’t. Maybe you were going to throw all your savings into a joint account and perhaps you shouldn’t. Maybe you figured that having reciprocal wills meant that you were protected if your partner died but didn’t think how he could change his at any time. Depending on your situation, dozens of issues could come up and you could leave that meeting with much more than just a prenuptial agreement, but important legal knowledge to go forward.

Another benefit of not going with one of these online services is the advice you’ll get to ensure that you understand what the agreement really means and act in a way not to invalidate it. Take a simple “What’s yours is yours and what’s mine is mine, expenses 50/50” agreement. Sounds simple until life happens. He temporarily loses his job and you pay for everything. You go back to school and stop earning. Does that online agreement cover life happening? If it does, are you aware of what you need to do?

You might say to yourself, “well an online agreement has to be better than not having anything, right?” Wrong! The wrong agreement can make your situation much worse than it would be if you had nothing at all! I think this is truly the real problem with online services. People assume that if you both have few assets that it’s better just to have something, but it may not be! 

Just remember online, standard, quick, easy, and cheap should not be your criteria when you are looking to have an agreement to protect you!

Ready to protect your future with a carefully crafted prenuptial agreement? Contact us at Contact@Bridelawyer.com or book your online consultation  today to get started!