Arizona Family Law Lawyer & Attorney : NRG - Nirenstein Ruotolo Group

Absolutely. Although each person starts out owning all of his or her job-related income, many states allow this to be changed by an oral contract or even by a contract implied from the circumstances of how you live. These types of contracts often lead to misunderstandings during a breakup. For example, if there's no written agreement stating whether income will be shared or kept separate, one partner might falsely claim the other promised to split his income 50-50. Although this can be tough to prove in court, the very fact that a lawsuit can be brought creates a huge problem. For obvious reasons, it's an especially good idea to make a written agreement if a person with a big income is living with and supporting someone with little or no income.

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If you haven't been together long and don't own much, it's really not necessary to make a written agreement. But the longer you live together, the more important it is to prepare a written contract making it clear who owns what -- especially if you begin to accumulate a lot of property. And, if you buy a house together, it's a good idea to create a property agreement.

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Define who gets what if you divorce.

Without a prenup, state law will specify how your property will be divided if you ever divorce. These laws may dictate a result that neither of you wants. You can use a prenup to establish your own rules for property division and avoid potential disagreements in the event of a divorce. In most states, you can also make agreements about whether or not one or both of you will be entitled to alimony. Some states forbid or restrict agreements about alimony, however. That will be discussed soon on what you "can't" do with a prenup.

Copyright © 2006 Nolo

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Keep property in the family.

If your property includes something you want to keep in your birth family, whether it be an heirloom or a share in a family business, you and your spouse can agree that it will remain in your family, and you can specify that item in your prenup. This can even include property that you expect to receive in a future inheritance.

Copyright © 2006 Nolo

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Provide for children from prior marriages. A prenup is helpful (perhaps essential) if either of you has children from another relationship and you want to make sure that your children inherit their share of your property. In a prenup, one or both spouses can give up the right to claim a share of the other's property at death, perhaps in exchange for an agreed upon amount of property.

Copyright © 2006 Nolo

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Protect each other from debts. Some of us bring debts, as well as assets, to a marriage. If there's no prenup, creditors can sometimes turn to marital or community property to satisfy the debts of just one spouse. But if you want to make sure that saying "I do" does not mean saying "I owe," you can use a prenup to limit your liability for each other's debts.

Copyright © 2006 Nolo

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A purchased policy that pays a fixed amount of benefits every year -- although most annuities actually pay monthly -- for the life of the person who is entitled to those benefits. In a simple life annuity, when the person receiving the annuity dies, the benefits stop; there is no final lump sum payment and no provision to pay benefits to a spouse or other survivor. A continuous annuity pays monthly installments for the life of the retired worker, and also provides a smaller continuing annuity for the worker's spouse or other survivor after the worker's death. A joint and survivor annuity pays monthly benefits as long as the retired worker is alive, and then continues to pay the worker's spouse for life.

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"Tenancy in Common" is a way two or more people can own property together. Each can leave his or her interest upon death to beneficiaries of his choosing instead of to the other owners, as is required with joint tenancy. In some states, two people are presumed to own property as tenants in common unless they've agreed otherwise in writing.

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A special kind of property ownership that's only for married couples. Both spouses have the right to enjoy the entire property, and when one spouse dies, the surviving spouse gets title to the property (called a right of survivorship). It is similar to joint tenancy, but it is available in only about half the states.

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A method for defining the ownership of property acquired during marriage, in which all earnings during marriage and all property acquired with those earnings are considered community property and all debts incurred during marriage are community property debts. Community property laws exist in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.

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In community property states, property owned and controlled entirely by one spouse in a marriage. At divorce, separate property is not divided under the state's property division laws, but is kept by the spouse who owns it. Separate property includes all property that a spouse obtained before marriage, through inheritance or as a gift. It also includes any property that is traceable to separate property -- for example, cash from the sale of a vintage car owned by one spouse before marriage-and any property that the spouses agree is separate property.

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Alimony, also called spousal support, means paymenta by one spouse to another following a divorce. Courts don't always grant alimony, but where the marriage was long and one spouse earns a lot more than another, or one spouse left the workforce in order to raise children or manage the household, alimony is fairly common.

You must keep adequate records if you are paying or receiving alimony. This point cannot be over-emphasized. Frequently after a divorce, the spouses dispute, or the IRS challenges, the amounts that were actually paid or received. Without adequate documentation, the payer may lose the alimony tax deduction and/or be ordered to pay back support if the other spouse makes a claim in court.

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Lump Sum Support

In several states, a spouse may pay the total alimony obligation at the time of the divorce by giving the other spouse a lump sum payment equal to the total amount of future monthly payments.

If you accept a lump sum alimony payment, you may face tax consequences. For example, if you receive a lump sum payment that's referred to as "alimony" in your divorce decree, you may be subject to taxes on the full amount for that year. But if the same payment is called a "settlement," you may not be taxed. Don't sign any documents or agree to any terms until you've consulted an expert, such as an accountant who specializes in divorce issues. The money you spend on a consultation could be peanuts compared to what you might owe in income taxes.

To find out more about your state's alimony laws, go to your local law library or go online to the free legal research center at www.nolo.com, and click on "Statutes and Cases."

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It is common for a divorcing couples to decide about dividing their property and debts themselves (with or without the help of a neutral third party like a mediator), rather than leave it for the judge to decide. If however, a couple cannot agree, they can submit their property dispute to the court, which will use state law to divide the property.

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