A new trend among millennials is to sign prenuptial agreements before marriage. In fact, the number of prenuptial agreements has increased over five times in the past 20 years.
According to a survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, over 60 percent of lawyers reported to seeing an increase in the number of millennials requesting prenuptial agreements. Researchers suggest four main reasons for this increase, including:
1. Millennials are getting married later in life: The average age for women and men to get married is more than five years later than it was in the 1980s. The United States Census Bureau estimates the average age for a woman to get married now is around 27.5 years old. For men, the average age is around 29.5 years old. Because millennials are waiting longer to get married, they have more time to accumulate their own assets and property that they want protected in the event of a divorce.
2. Millennials saw their parents get divorced: Although millennials have brought down the divorce rate in the United States by 18 percent, many of them experienced their parent’s divorces. The divorce rate among their parents’ generation was around 40 percent. Even if millennials are choosing to stay together longer, they are choosing to protect themselves as well.
3. Millennials are in more student debt: Millennials are in more student debt than any generation in the past. According to Forbes, student debt is at an all-time high of 1.5 trillion. That is an increase of 150 percent in the past decade. Not only can a prenuptial agreement protect assets, but it can protect against debt as well.
4. Millennials are using reproductive technology: More couples are using reproductive technology to have children than ever before. There are currently over 400,000 frozen embryos in storage. Prenuptials can determine what happens to an embryo when a couple is no longer together.
Having a prenuptial agreement can have a significant impact on your divorce. No matter your financial situation, you should consider a prenuptial agreement if you are getting married.
