Protecting Your Assets Before Your Marriage With A Prenuptial Agreement

Taking your love to the next level is courageous and beautiful. The journey of making your relationship official is expected, and usually, the notion of sharing your whole life with someone is as old as time. However, it isn’t set in stone that every relationship will be successful.

So, a prenuptial agreement can be a great relief when it comes to safeguarding your interests. It’s here that involving the services of the best-quality prenup agreement lawyers will be a worthwhile step. As, in many instances, it can save you from intentional actions or unethical loss of hard-earned properties. Let’s look at how a prenup agreement can ensure complete protection for your assets.

Knowing the legal intricacies before going to the alter

It’s very exciting to enter into a marriage, but thinking about your financial assets and protecting them is also needed. In some situations, in Australia, you could be legally held as being in a relationship before you mean it to happen. This would mean that your new ‘partner’ would be entitled to a part of your assets in case you divorce or get separated.

The law sees a relationship differently than generic persons, so keeping in touch with the most experienced Perth family lawyers will help you stay safe.

The factors to legally classify you as a couple

The Australian legal system will consider you and your partner as a couple, irrespective of marital status. They will look at and decide about the start of your relationship (legally and officially) according to different factors.

You can still be considered in a relationship even if you are unmarried. This aspect is mentioned in Section 60EA of the Family Law Act 1975 and is called being in a ‘de facto relationship’. It can apply to couples of different or the same genders, identical to a married one.

The court can be asked to determine whether a de facto relationship exists. For example, you could be married and have lived together for a few years before marrying – the court may decide that you have become a couple when you lived together before your official marriage.

The court may consider some or all of the factors given below to determine whether either of the partners are in a de facto relationship:

• Whether they live together or not.
• The length of time the couple has been together. Usually, the court considers the relation to be de facto after two years have passed. However, it’s not absolute – and the presence of children together can bring about exceptions.
• Any sexual relationship exists between the couple in the relationship.
• Have they brought property together or used shared property?
• The state of financial dependence or independence of the couple.
• Do the people associated with them (employers, family, and friends) see them as a committed couple?
• Their lookout and degree of commitment to sharing their lives.
• Whether they have children together and the way they care for them.

These aspects will direct the court in deciding when you should be considered as a couple. So, it is best to enter a prenuptial agreement in Perth before marriage and protect one another’s financial interests.

How can I protect my assets?

Relationships can break over different issues, and rather than wait extensively for the court to pass its judgment – you can consult the most proficient prenuptial agreement lawyer in Perth about the different ways to protect your assets. Here are some factors you can consider before committing to a relationship:

• Ensure your legal position and your legal acceptability as a couple. It is best to ask your family law consultant about it.
• It is best to keep your bank accounts and your money separate. Avoiding joint-funds will help prove your financial independence.
• One of the most effective protections you can use is a prenup, or a binding financial agreement (BFA), as it’s known in Australia. These agreements can be entered into at any time (including after the start of your relationship or marriage) and outline asset division after the relationship ends. As it requires the signature of both parties to be effective – it can provide a safety net for either.
• Keep proof of contributions and contributions of assets in the relationship, especially for costly ones like your home and car.

Concluding statement

in conclusion, we have discussed the ways to protect your property and assets. Relationships can evolve with time and see changes. Likewise, the partners in a relationship can experience changes in their financial situations. It is always recommended that you keep your prenuptial agreement lawyers in Perth informed about these changes so that they can represent you and get you the optimum justice in court.