Divorce attorneys are seeing an increase in the total number of clients requesting prenuptial agreements in recent years.
And, one group in particular seems to be driving the demand.
"Millennials are starting to feel like they're more independent, and that marriage is not necessarily a permanent thing in one's life," says local attorney, Stephen Rue.
And, they see prenups as the best option to cover separate property holdings, business interests, anticipated inheritances, and potential alimony claims.
"They're more astute to the legal consequences of marriage as opposed to just the romantic consequences of a relationship that end up in a marriage," Rue says.
And, he says millennials just don't see matrimony as necessarily a "'til death do us part' relationship.
"The millennials are now in a thinking process, a paradigm, in which they don't believe or think that there's a strong possibility that they will not be married to the same person for the rest of their lives."
Also, the increase in prenups is thought to be linked to the trend of marrying later. Since 2005, the median age to get married has risen from 27 to 30 for men and 25 to 28 for women. The age increase means that millennials have greater assets by the time they wed, and thus more incentive to sign a premarital agreement.
And, who is most likely to request a prenup? Is it the bride-to-be or the groom? "It depends," says Rue. "The person that wants the prenup is generally the person that is making the money or is anticipated to make the most money during the term of the marriage."
And, what if there's a difference of opinion about signing a prenup?
"Oh. people simply don't go through with the engagement when someone doesn't sign a prenup. Quite often. Quite often."
