JustPrenups Isn't Gatekeeping 10 Terrible Prenup Mistakes: Mistake #3
JustPrenups Isn't Gatekeeping 10 Terrible Prenup Mistakes: Mistake #3
The Missing Ruby Slippers
Welcome to our series, "JustPrenups Isn't Gatekeeping 10 Terrible Prenup Mistakes."
For today's installation of our Terrible series, here's Mistake #3 that we call, The Missing Ruby Shoes.
In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy can find her way home by clicking her ruby slippers three times, and bam! She's in Kansas - her home state. From the beginning of Dorothy's tale, Dorothy is squarely rooted in her home state, and her home state is the constant guide.
Kansas is both the starting point and the ending point of her journey - regardless of whatever complications come her way regarding whose assets belong to whom...
Your prenup's wardrobe should have ruby slippers too, except the prenup's ruby slipper set is called a governing law clause, which isn't very sparkly. It's just a fancy legal way of saying, "Kansas," or in our case, "Florida," because we serve *only* Florida. As a small business that is woman-owned, we thrive solely through our commitment to our clients and their trust in us, not through venture capital, which is why all of our work is so highly customized to clients' financial situations and goals but also to their interpersonal dynamics.
Let's say your prenup just arrived in your hands from Templates-R-Us. Unfortunately, the prenup-in-a-can store allowed you to create a prenup without a governing law clause: this clause identifies which state's law is being applied in the contract.
Beware your governing law clause,
or a house just might fall on you.
Why should the specific state matter? Because the rules in Florida are not the rules in California, whether we're talking about the rules for alimony or the rules for couple's signatures on the prenup itself relative to the wedding date.
Templates-R-Us let you believe that there are "magic carpet prenups" that carry you anywhere and everywhere, but that's not how prenups or Oz really works after all. Your prenup should incorporate the mechanics of drafting to your state because a governing law clause is not one-size-fits-all.
Your prenup could learn a lot from Dorothy.
Customization matters.
Click your heels three times, and your prenup's governing law clause should bring you to your home state.
Warning: All posts on this website contain general information about legal matters for broad educational purposes only. This information is not legal advice and should not be treated as such. This blog post does not create any attorney-client or mediator-client relationship between the reader and JustPrenups.com.
