A second marriage can bring together much more than two people. It may also combine children from previous relationships, established homes, businesses, retirement savings, inheritance expectations, and existing estate plans.
For these couples, a marriage contract can help clarify how financial expectations will be handled while recognizing obligations and priorities that existed before the new marriage began.
This article focuses specifically on second marriages and blended families. For general information about enforceability, cost, timing, financial disclosure, and the process of creating an agreement, visit our page for Toronto prenuptial agreement lawyers.
Why Prenuptial Agreements Can Be Especially Important In A Second Marriage
People entering a second marriage are often at a different financial stage than people marrying for the first time.
One or both partners may already have:
- A home or other real estate
- Significant retirement savings
- Investments
- Business interests
- Children from a former relationship
- Support obligations arising from a previous relationship
- Family gifts or inherited assets
- An existing will or estate plan
These circumstances can make it especially important to discuss what each spouse expects to happen if the marriage ends or one spouse dies.
A marriage contract can provide a framework for some of these issues, but the agreement should be prepared in coordination with the couple’s broader family and financial circumstances. For example, a person whose previous divorce was granted abroad may also need a legal opinion letter from an Ontario lawyer as part of the Ontario remarriage process.Â
Protecting Children From A Previous Relationship
A major concern in many blended families is preserving assets for children from an earlier relationship.
For example, a parent may enter a second marriage owning a home, investment portfolio, business, or other property that they ultimately hope will benefit their children.
Marriage can alter a person’s financial and estate-planning circumstances. For that reason, relying on assumptions about what children will eventually inherit can create risk.
A marriage contract can help clarify the spouses’ financial intentions, but it should be considered alongside an appropriate will and estate plan.
Our estate planning lawyers can help clients consider how family-law arrangements and estate-planning documents may work together.
Established Property And Second Marriages
People entering later marriages may have accumulated considerably more property than they had earlier in life.
That can include:
- A principal residence
- Rental or vacation properties
- Registered and non-registered investments
- Pensions
- Corporate interests
- Family businesses
- Valuable personal property
Ontario’s Family Law Act establishes rules for property rights between married spouses. A marriage contract can alter how certain financial matters will be addressed, subject to statutory limits.
Where substantial assets are involved, spouses should carefully document what each person owns and owes before the agreement is signed.
Clients with complex holdings may also benefit from speaking with our Toronto property division lawyers.
The Matrimonial Home Can Require Special Planning
A home can become particularly complicated in a second marriage.
One spouse may already own the property where the couple plans to live. That spouse may also hope to preserve some of its value for children from a previous relationship.
Ontario gives the matrimonial home special treatment. A marriage contract cannot simply eliminate the statutory possessory rights that married spouses have in a matrimonial home.
Couples planning to live in property owned by one spouse should therefore obtain specific advice rather than assuming that a general asset-protection clause will resolve every issue.
Learn more from our Toronto matrimonial home lawyers.
How A Second Marriage Can Affect Estate Planning
Family-law planning and estate planning become particularly important in blended families because spouses and children may have different expectations about what should happen after a death.
A person may want to:
- Provide financial security for a new spouse
- Preserve particular property for children from a first relationship
- Keep a family business within the family
- Address use of a home during the surviving spouse’s lifetime
- Coordinate beneficiary designations with an overall estate plan
A marriage contract may form one part of that planning, but it should not be treated as a substitute for a properly prepared will.
The wording of the marriage contract, will, beneficiary designations, ownership structure, and other documents should be reviewed together where appropriate.
Existing Support Obligations Should Not Be Overlooked
Some people entering a second marriage already pay or receive child support or spousal support arising from an earlier relationship.
Those obligations may affect the person’s financial circumstances and should form part of the broader disclosure and planning process before entering a new marriage contract.
A new spouse should have an accurate understanding of relevant ongoing liabilities, just as each party should disclose significant assets and debts.
Business Ownership In A Blended Family
A business can present additional concerns in a second marriage, especially if children from a previous relationship work in the business or are expected eventually to inherit it.
Questions may include:
- Whether the other spouse will acquire an interest in future growth
- How business value will be determined if the marriage ends
- Whether family members hold shares
- How corporate and personal assets are separated
- Whether a succession plan already exists
Marriage-contract drafting in these circumstances may need to coordinate with corporate, tax, and estate-planning advice.
Should Adult Children Be Involved In The Discussion?
There is no single approach that works for every blended family.
Some couples prefer to keep the terms of their marriage contract private. Others decide that discussing their general estate-planning intentions with adult children can reduce uncertainty or future misunderstandings.
The appropriate level of family involvement will depend on the relationships involved and the nature of the assets.
What remains important is that the marriage contract itself be negotiated voluntarily between the spouses and that each spouse have an opportunity to obtain their own legal advice.
Frequently Asked Questions About Prenups And Second Marriages
Do I Need A Prenup If I Am Getting Married For The Second Time?
Not everyone entering a second marriage needs the same arrangement. However, an agreement may be particularly worth considering if you have accumulated assets, have children from another relationship, own a business, expect an inheritance, or have an existing estate plan.
Can A Prenup Protect An Inheritance For My Children?
A marriage contract can help define the spouses’ financial intentions concerning property and family wealth, but inheritance planning can involve both family law and estate law.
It is therefore important to coordinate the agreement with your will and other estate-planning arrangements rather than relying on one document alone.
What If My New Spouse Is Moving Into A Home I Already Own?
This situation deserves specific legal advice because a residence used as a family home after marriage can be subject to Ontario’s special matrimonial-home rules.
Speak with a lawyer about the property before assuming that ownership before marriage determines all future rights.
Should A Prenup Address My Existing Children?
A marriage contract cannot determine future parenting arrangements for children, but the spouses may have important financial and estate-planning objectives connected with children from earlier relationships.
Those objectives can be addressed through appropriate family-law and estate-planning documents.
Planning A Second Marriage In Ontario? Speak With Gelman & Associates
Second marriages and blended families can create financial and estate-planning questions that are different from those involved in a first marriage.
A carefully considered marriage contract can help couples discuss those issues before they become sources of disagreement and can provide greater clarity about each person’s intentions.
For advice about the general requirements, enforceability, timing, cost, or drafting of a marriage contract, visit our Toronto prenuptial agreement lawyers page.
To discuss a second marriage or blended-family situation with Gelman & Associates, call 1-844-736-0200 or contact us online today.
