I hope Ocean Mist will correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe assets you have before you say tie the knot are considered premarital assets and are protected anyway unless you move them into a joint account or add your new spouse’s name to their title. Your new spouse would be entitled to his/her share of any appreciation in those assets during the marriage though. If you don’t go the pre-nup route, certainly create a solid, detailed personal balance sheet right before you get married. If you can clearly document what you had coming in, you stand a much better chance of at least maintaining that level of wealth on the way out. Trust accounts can also be a great way to protect assets, particularly if you make yourself the trustee and one of your family members the remainder beneficiaries. There are obviously costs associated with setting up the trusts, as well as tax implications, but they can be very effective.
I think no one can take your money away from you if you’ve got people whom you can trust with your life!
But I agree to Ocean Mist that you must be (don’t know if you will be) $crewed if you try to get out of child support by hiding assets.
Divorce is for amateurs. Just keep multiple passports and disguises in addition to keeping most of your wealth in uncut diamonds in a secret compartment in the attic. Problem solved, and it’s way less expense.
Bvalguy -> 100k = magical # I pulled out of my @ss. It’s arbitrary of course depending on who’s giving out the advice. Some family law lawyers say that even poor people should have pre-nups. The reason why I picked 100k is because I consider this as pretty good money (am I the only one here that thinks 100k is good money?!). This is when it will start hurting. Spousal support isn’t calculated like 50/50, but for the sake of argument, let’s say it does. Lifestyle at 100k= You can afford a home, nice car, etc. Lifestyle at 50k = You can afford a cheap “studio” and a janky car It’s important to mention - a sizable amount of states do not recognize any separate property. Everything you have gets divided 50% (in theory). higgmond -> Correct in states that recognize separate and community property. The separatizer has the burden of proof. Most states have a bias in favor of community property. Other stuff that are exempt are gifts and inheritances that you receive. In order to have stuff remain separate, you can’t touch the account and commingle it with community funds / payroll. As far as trusts, they are more geared towards probate purposes, not protection of assets from a divorce although it can be if you have it with your parental family. Trusts are highly recommended for anyone that owns a home and/or other big ticket assets that are going to be transferred to the children. If a will and a trust are not set up and you die, it will go into probate court which will be very expensive and LONG (YEARS!). brain_wash -> Actually there was a case in which something like this happened. The party had to pay out an extraordinary amount to the spouse and was contemplating to skip town and never return to the U.S. again. I don’t know about you, but… I love America. Good luck to you all.
OR … an unfortunate “accident” in the bathtub can happen and you keep it all. Now I hope my wife doesn’t patrol AF or I’ll have lots of trouble tonight and possibly a lawsuit (another).
+1
Don’t marry.
#FWB