Understanding Prenuptial Agreements

Okay, we’ve established that a prenuptial agreement is a legally binding document. That means, once you sign it, there’s no backing out. Right? Well, that’s not necessarily the case. You would think that because it’s a legal contract that there is an expiration date. But this isn’t the case. So what happens when a couple who have signed a prenup choose to get divorced? The fine print on prenuptial agreements can be ignored? Prenuptial agreements are contracts that are signed by each spouse before marriage with the purpose of protecting certain assets from being divided in the event of a divorce. This may include businesses, real estate properties, heirlooms, intellectual property, and various other assets. In fact, a prenuptial agreement generally serves as a highly effective tool for protecting individual assets.

Although they may seem like a bit of a formality, prenuptial agreements actually hold a lot of significance, especially in today’s digital world. The importance and relevance of prenups in today’s world is similar to what online communication experts refer to as “evergreen content” – content that doesn’t have an expiration date. While this is just one factor of SEO, makes compelling reading for the “content that doesn’t expire” point of view. In legal terms there are, of course, exceptions, but in lives like business prenuptial agreements can be compared to the digital content that almost never expires. And this applies not only to legal eagles but also to digital communication experts who look for ways to establish themselves as authorities in their fields. Or, perhaps more importantly, when viewed from a user perspective, these are the types of legal agreements that are often looked for on the web. And they share another trait with online content in general: they are seldom fully read, and users don’t often know how to properly evaluate them.

For example, a large percentage of the users researching legal agreements online don’t often know how to fully interpret the fine print. In fact, a large number take the fine print on typical contracts for granted and fail to do their due diligence in researching the details. And while they may seek to research the intricacies of a prenuptial agreement online, they may not go far enough to understand its details. Once again, this is similar to how many users search for online content. Scanning for the basics is highly common among internet users. Unfortunately, it means that most online readers miss the most important information, reading only the headlines. This is especially apparent in conversations about legal matters, particularly with prenuptial agreements. This is because few online readers are prepared to invest the time and effort into interpreting the fine print of legal documents. This makes it imperative for a legal practitioner or online communicator to bridge the gap in understanding.

Because virtually all information can be found online these days, every question you can think of should at least be thoroughly researched. In addition, filter out the “noise” – the misinformation that is available everywhere. This means skipping the trash and moving on to the reputable sources of information. It also means being concise when it comes to the writing of the content itself. This involves providing the precise piece of information that the users are seeking. For a legal practitioner in search of online visibility, this makes things easy: all you have to do is use the exact phrasing of the search keyword within the content. For example, when evaluating all the information available online, a practitioner should ask “when does a prenuptial agreement expire?”

The trickiest aspect of writing about legal matters (in this case, prenuptial agreements) is that there can be a lot of misinformation out there. In fact, much like online content, there are plenty of folks out there who pose as authorities on various topics, but are often incorrect. To be able to weed out the right from the wrong then, it is important to communicate with the target audience on their level by using words they are likely to understand, but avoiding being patronizing in the process. In other words, make sure that all the questions the audience may be asking are answered within the content itself. In this regard, it would be advisable to interview a prenuptial agreement law expert with a proven track record of working on deals involving PR strategies. Such an interview could result in a concise piece of content that can potentially rank well for the reader base looking for information online.

The takeaways from this example? – First, the “fine print” on prenuptial agreements vary based on the specific wording of the document itself, as well as the individual who is reading it. Given that there are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to reading the fine print of these types of documents, this makes it essential for communication professionals to be highly knowledgeable on this particular topic. In other words, back up the claims made in the content with additional guidance from a proven legal authority. And in the process, address what might be some of the misconceptions a user has when it comes to prenuptial agreements.