How to Protect Your Assets Without a Prenup

If you’re getting ready to tie the knot, you might worry about protecting the personal assets and wealth you built before your marriage without a prenup. Down the road, spouses may have to divide their interests in marital property in the event of divorce. Knowing your legal options for protecting assets without a prenup can help you keep your hard-earned wealth.

Understanding Marital vs Separate Property in Michigan

Property division in Michigan divorces begins with distinguishing a couple’s assets as marital property vs. separate property. Marital property typically includes all property acquired by a couple during their marriage. Marital property can also include the growth in value of assets owned by the spouses before marriage. Separate property consists of all assets owned by one party before their marriage and certain assets acquired during the marriage, like inheritances or exclusive gifts.

How Michigan’s Equitable Distribution Laws Affect Your Assets

Under Michigan’s equitable distribution law, a court must divide a divorcing couple’s marital assets fairly, which does not necessarily mean evenly. Thus, courts may split marital assets between spouses in an arrangement other than 50/50. Therefore, equitable distribution may result in you splitting an interest in marital assets you believe rightfully belong to you when the court determines that your ex contributed to acquiring, improving, or maintaining the assets.

Legal Strategies to Protect Your Assets Without a Prenup

Although you can most effectively protect your assets from equitable distribution by having a prenup, you have other avenues for protecting your own money and assets, such as:

• Postnuptial agreements – Michigan law allows spouses to enter postnuptial agreements, which serve the same purposes as prenups but come into effect after a couple has married. However, courts will enforce a postnuptial agreement when created to keep the marriage together; courts may decline to enforce agreements made in contemplation of divorce.
• Separate accounts – Although separate financial accounts can still qualify as marital property subject to equitable distribution, keeping your funds separate allows spouses to document assets and liabilities and to keep property they brought into the marriage separate from marital property. Furthermore, separate accounts allow spouses to protect assets following separation or divorce.
• Keeping separate assets separate – If you owned real estate, vehicles, or other assets before marriage, you can avoid commingling those assets by keeping your spouse’s name off deeds or titles and not using marital property (such as funds from joint bank accounts) to maintain those assets.

Risks and Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Common risks and mistakes that people can make that jeopardize their financial interests include:

• Commingling separate assets, such as putting separate funds in joint bank accounts or using separate assets, like inheritances, to fund the purchase of marital property
• Not keeping separate finances or having separate accounts to ensure that at least some of your property remains separate from the marital estate
• Inadequate documenting of financial transactions, which can make it more challenging to trace money and assets back to each spouse

When and Why You Should Consult a Michigan Family Law Attorney

You should speak with a Michigan family law attorney when you or your spouse consider separating or divorcing. Understanding your legal rights and options as early as possible can help you protect your financial interests if you separate or divorce when you and your spouse do not have a prenup. Contact Alward Fisher today for a confidential consultation with a family law attorney to learn more about how to protect assets without a prenup in divorce.