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I have been finding lately that the Collaborative process lends itself very well to helping soon to be married couples prepare Pre-Nuptial Agreements, or “Pre-Nups”. Too often bringing lawyers into the process of drafting pre-nups can lead to friction between the couple. This can happen when one party has their lawyer draft an agreement based on what that party wants and then presents the agreement to the other party to take to their lawyer for review. Unlike that scenario, Collaborative process emphasizes working as a team to achieve the goals developed by the clients together.

When couples have hired Collaborative lawyers to help them prepare pre-nups, typically the first thing we do is meet together with the couple to find out what their goals are for the agreement, what they hope to accomplish, and what specific concerns they have. We will give the couple some advice as to any issues we see, answer questions, take notes, and assign a little homework (specifically identifying current assets and debts).

The two attorneys will then work together to prepare a draft agreement based on what we heard from the clients. Once we have an agreement that both attorneys feel properly addresses the issues raised by the clients, we will schedule a second meeting with the clients to review the draft agreement and make any changes that may be needed after discussion.