Page 98 - The Circle of Life

This is also known as a pre-nup agreement and I found quite a few places on the

Internet advertising their services to draft this agreement for you. Since none of
them are registered lawyers I doubt their abilities to do so and worse the value
of such a contract. Stay away from them.

As you know by now the law is very specific on the formalities of a contract and

this particular one must be signed by a notary public who is a practising
attorney. No-one else, not a commissioner of oaths or anyone regardless of title

and rank, is empowered by law to sign this agreement. It is that important! Thus
we will look at it but you must (not maybe) go to a notary and have this done

before you get married. To make sure I would say at least two months before
your marriage.

I cannot stress the importance of this agreement enough. It is the only way to

safeguard yourself against the debts of your spouse. You know in life sh-t
happens and quite often too. You never know when your spouse is retrenched or

sued or something which will cost your estate money if he cannot pay his debts.
Unless you are married out of community (via the antenuptial) you will be forced

to pay his debts. There is nothing standard about this agreement and it is not a
pre-printed agreement to take lightly. This agreement governs what happens

with you assets and liabilities on death or divorce. Many times it includes your
will and testament but that must be updated as the children is born and

circumstances change.

Your last will and testament says how your estate is devolved and the
antenuptial say what is in that estate. Hopefully nothing as I would advise you to
go the Trust route as set out in my free book Your Worst Enemy under ring-

fencing. Still, even if you get a Trust registered, you must have an antenuptial

also. It is part of your ring-fencing.

As with all contracts you must understand what you sign. The other day I had

the honour to read something my American Patriot wrote and whilst I
understood the words since it was in English I had absolutely no comprehension

of what she meant. I just could not understand the terminology so I cannot tell
you what she meant even if my life depended on it. It is the same with a

contract which you don't understand and you must ask question until you do.

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