A recent article in the Wall Street Journal discusses a new development in prenuptial agreements: ‘Trigger Clauses’. Recognizing that many couples are marrying for the first time while in their late 30’s or early 40’s, many women who will be curtailing career development to stay home and raise children.
In the event of a subsequent divorce, which is to say almost one-half of all marriages, these women are typically being ‘short-changed’ in the granting of alimony sufficient to recognize their financial sacrifice. On divorce, they may be left without a pension of their own, they will not have sufficient earned income to secure maximum Social Security on retirement, and their return to employment in their prior careers may be difficult at best. Thus, these women are insisting on a clause in their prenuptial agreements that provides for ‘make-up’ earnings through enhanced alimony awards if they leave their then-employment to become stay-at-home mothers and/or wives.
Of course, this will increase pressure on husbands to determine if the marriage is worth salvaging of their wives choose to cease employment over the objections of the husbands. If not, these husbands may seek to divorce quickly rather than letting the years pass which will allow their wives to later exercise the ‘Trigger Clause’ during a future divorce.
The article also cited a number of new AI and web-based platforms that provide free or low-cost prenuptial agreement templates that may or may not include ‘Trigger Clauses.’ It made very clear that these ‘cookie-cutter’ prenuptial agreements are not state specific and may not provide for the contingencies required by applicable state laws or the particular family’s circumstances. Securing the services of a competent family law attorney is always highly recommended to negotiate and prepare the prenuptial agreement which meets the particular needs of the individual client.