Trump Prenuptial Agreement Points to Business Side of Pre-Wedding Jitters
Here comes the bride, all dressed in white. She signed a prenuptial agreement; he asked her to last night.
Prenuptial agreements--those cozy, pre-wedding documents that do everything from slice up the booty in the event of divorce to make the bride promise that she’ll stay size 6 forever--have long been the dominion of the rich and famous.
Although they are no longer limited to the wealthy, it’s Donald and Ivana Trump whose paper work we’re interested in today. That fateful document was signed about 13 years ago; it could be put into effect in the very near future. Their marriage is on the rocks.
According to the golden couple’s prenuptial arrangements, the billionaire plans to give the socialite between $20 million and $25 million of his $1.7-billion fortune, plus the family’s 45-room mansion in Greenwich, Conn.
“Is that all she’s getting, after all the work she performed?” asked Beverly Hills family law specialist Alexandra Leichter. “What a foolish woman.”
Leichter pointed out that the modern prenuptial agreement has its roots in the Ketubah , an ancient Jewish wedding contract dating back some 2,000 years. It was, at the time, “protection for the woman” in an era when women had no rights at all.
“This was a very advanced social concept,” Leichter said. “The prenuptial agreements are now used more as a weapon against the woman in many circumstances, especially in May/December weddings.”
And the language of the law is consistent with the sentiments laid down in these documents. There’s the “in spouse,” the one with the money--Donald, in this case. And the “out spouse,” the one with a flatter wallet--in other words, Ivana.
Although it’s not the stuff of romance, Leichter and many other lawyers agree that settling money matters before marching to the altar is often a very smart personal finance practice. During the 1980s, the affianceed seemed to think so, for by mid-decade lawyers reported that more and more such documents were being drawn up.
There is some disagreement about whether the prenuptial agreement is still on the upswing. Leichter said the number that she writes is increasing, but then, the number of attorneys willing to do them is going down. The reason is the threat of malpractice, which goes a long way toward explaining the fees charged for such legal aid.
“They’re as expensive as you think you can charge for them,” said Hugh A. Lipton, a family law specialist in North Hollywood who happens to be drafting his own at the moment--No. 2, to be exact.
“In the event of a divorce, the out spouse will look to set the agreement aside,” Lipton said. “If the out spouse’s attorney is successful . . . it’s almost always an invitation for malpractice.” In the Trump case, Ivana already has proclaimed through her attorney that she will fight the agreement.
So Lipton said fees range from $2,500 to “the sky’s the limit.” Leichter won’t write one for less than $5,000. And Daniel Jaffe, whose 10-attorney firm in Beverly Hills does only family law, will seldom touch one for less than $7,500.
“A prenuptial agreement that is well thought out, that looks to a reasonable result 5 or 10 or 30 years down the road, is negotiated,” Jaffe said. “That is very difficult to do. These people are all in love. But they (the agreements) are useful tools.”
To be done correctly, both parties must be represented by separate counsel. They cannot be performed under duress. Today, they are often videotaped for greater insight into the parties’ states of mind.
They cannot decide child custody or set the level of child support, said Lowel H. Sucherman, a San Francisco attorney and chairman of the California State Bar’s family law section. In California, they cannot set the level of spousal support, he said, though other states will let a man or woman sign away all future support.
California is one of the few states that has a strict community property law, one that equally divides assets gained and money earned during a marriage, Sucherman said. A prenuptial agreement can delineate--and keep separate--property owned before the marriage. But if that property is commingled during the marriage, its disposal is open to interpretation, he said.
“California has a rule that says separate property, if kept separate through the marriage, will not be divided by the court with the other spouse,” Sucherman said. “If commingled, it becomes community property and then will be split.”
Sucherman contends that anyone with substantial assets before marriage--from $500,000 to $1 million or more--probably should have such an agreement. So should business owners who come to a relationship with a fully developed company. But they’re not the only ones who get them.
“The rich and famous still do it and do it with more panache,” he said. “But a lot of people who have been burned once in a divorce have done it, where there isn’t that much property involved.”
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