Congrats on your decision to get married again! For whatever reason your first marriage was dissolved – death or divorce – you will carry happy and sad memories of the first marriage. You may be carrying scars too, and far more important you may have acquired assets in that relationship. If the answer is yes, and the assets are critical, YOU NEED TO PROTECT them.

I am addressing to the women – but it is just as applicable to the men who are marrying again.

So, first, congrats. It is a nice decision that you have decided to get married..so before you say ‘I do’ or tie the knot as a Hindu, make sure that your children from the first marriage are protected, and have their share of assets in good shape. If these children are minor, you will have to be far more careful that you protect their inheritance / what they have got from their father. Not everything you will have to consider (or do) for your second wedding ceremony will be as romantic as planning for your honeymoon or making the visitor’s list or walking into your new spouse’s arms. One of the most crucial/ critical challenges to work through before you say “I do” for the second time is how you are going to protect your financials assets in your second marriage.

If both you and your new partner have similar sized balance sheets, your interests will be in sync. If you are a lot wealthier than your future spouse, you have to be far more careful – after all, you will(should) want to protect your financial assets while supporting your spouse (or his parents or his children) at the same time. If  your partner much younger than you are – your children will be far more worried about your safety and their own inheritance – and it is fair that they should be. All these factors you will have to take into account when planning how to handle your assets in your second marriage. Handling debt is a different ball game altogether – so if you have debt please make sure that both of you bring all that to the table. There is no cookie cutter solution fit all solution, but there are many steps to be taken and many solutions that have been proven to work. Try these:

Draft and sign a pre nuptial agreement: A pre nup is an American concept which allows both the spouses to protect their own pre marital assets. If there is even a murmur from the new spouse about signing this – except of course saying that my lawyer has to approve it – you should consider that as a red signal in going ahead in the marriage. Even though it may / may not be recognised or valid in India . Pre nup agreement how your assets will be distributed in the case of a divorce/ death and which of those assets will be protected if the marriage does end in divorce. A prenup MUST protect any investments/annuities / estates you are bringing into the marriage. It can be detailed enough to even allocate expenses during the marriage. It will also define whether either of you will receive alimony in the case of a divorce.

A prenuptial agreement is the most important and basic step you should take to protect your estate during any marriage.