Re Marriage Slowly Becoming The New Normal

According to a recent report by CBS, 43 percent of all marriages include at least one participant – either bride or groom – that is entering into their second or third marriages. In fact, a whopping 67 percent of second marriages and 74 percent of third marriages will result in a divorce, according to the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology.

When entering into marriage the second time around, you would think that many would learn from past mistakes – unfortunately however, many do not.

For example, by the time many people reach the point of a second, or even third, marriage, they have acquired assets – such as real estate, money or even a business – and are quite likely have child from their prior marriage. However, instead of having an open and mature conversation about how these matters should be handled if the new marriage should tragically end in divorce, they throw caution to the wind and run blindly into the marriage.

Unfortunately, as the statistics cited earlier indicate, many of these marriages will end in divorce, and problems will arise – problems that could have been avoided had the couple originally discussed these issues before getting married.

One way to deal with these problems head-on is the consider drafting a prenuptial agreement before getting married for the second or even third time. Not only can these marital documents deal with these issues before the arise, but they also can provide stability in a new relationship since both parties know their property from before the marriage is protected if things turn out for the worse.

Source: CBS-Boston, “Marriage, The Second Or Third Time Around,” Dee Lee, August 2, 2012

Our firm often handles situations in which prenuptial agreements are needed. If you would like to learn more about our prenuptial agreement practice, please visit our New Jersey Prenuptial Agreements page.