Do you need reasons? We have reasons. Here are 10 important ones to consider.
- You Discuss All the Important Issues Well in Advance of Your Marriage.
These frank discussions help solidify your relationship and make it less likely that you’ll ever need to use your premarital agreement or prenuptial agreement. You’ll have the help of a professional mediator who can help you tackle all the issues. The mediators at Peace Talks are trained in mediation and communication and can help you with your discussions.
- The Agreement Reflects Both Parties’ Input.
When individual attorneys draft premarital agreements, sometimes they reflect only their client’s wishes, without input from the other fiancé. As a result, many changes need to be negotiated. By mediating the content of your premarital or prenuptial agreement first with Peace Talks, you are in agreement before the first draft.
- You Have the Flexibility of Taking Time to Consider Your Options — and How a Decision Might Affect Your Future.
If you start to think about how you’d like your premarital or prenuptial agreement to look well in advance of your wedding date, you will have time to really think things through. While the mediators at Peace Talks quickly complete all the drafting work, you’ll be able to take as much time as you like to consider all the issues before signing.
- Because You Participate in Each Decision, the Outcome is Tailored to Your New Family.
When agreements are one-sided, they’re not usually enforceable, plus you might start your marriage harboring resentment.
Agreements made in mediation have a higher degree of compliance and success than those negotiated in a one-sided way. This means that the chance you’ll ever need to use your agreement gets smaller. And if you do need your premarital agreement, there’s a better chance that your spouse will abide by it.
The mediators at Peace Talks will make sure that your agreement is balanced so that if you do need to use it, it will be enforceable.
- Part of Mediation is Learning to Communicate Better.
Better communication is vital as you’re adjusting to your new marriage. It’s even more important when children will be involved. The mediators at Peace Talks are trained in communication techniques and can help ensure everyone’s concerns are addressed.
- Premarital Agreement and Prenuptial Agreement Mediation is Confidential and Private.
You can discuss important issues in the privacy of the mediator’s office, on your own schedule. Even if you never sign an agreement, simply having discussions about how you intend to handle your finances and your priorities will help ensure that you won’t ever divorce. The mediators at Peace Talks can’t testify in court, so mediating at Peace Talks ensures that your discussions are kept private.
- You Choose the Topics to Discuss in Mediation.
While there are typical elements of a premarital agreement or prenuptial agreement, you can also choose to talk about things like parenting issues, whether to have children, how to handle finances, and other potential problems that most premarital agreement negotiations ignore. In mediation, you choose the topics and the pace. The mediators at Peace Talks will help you identify the issues and make sure everything is addressed.
- You Can Choose Your Mediator, and Work with Them as Much or as Little as You Want.
You pick the person, the credentials, and the level of involvement.
Would speaking with a therapist help in working through sensitive financial discussions, deciding whether to have children, or harmoniously blending a step-family?
Would an attorney with a financial planning background be helpful in deciding how to divide assets?
In addition to the trained mediators at Peace Talks, you can also choose to include other professionals in your mediation as consultants, like an accountant or tax advisor.
View the Peace Talks mediators’ bios and resumes.
- It’s the Mediator’s Job to Make Sure that Everyone Gets a Chance to Express All of His or Her Concerns.
Your Peace Talks mediator will help balance the power between the two of you, making sure everyone gets a chance to fully express themselves.
Mediation is helpful in situations when:
- You’re worried that your fiancé won’t listen to your concerns about the finances or the premarital agreement.
- Your fiancé can’t understand why you feel a premarital agreement would be helpful.
- You’ve been too shy to express yourself.
Read more about the 5 Myths of Premarital and Prenuptial Agreements.
- You Set the Schedule.
The Peace Talks Mediation Services office is open during regular business hours, and evenings and weekends by appointment.
We schedule appointments in 3-hour time blocks (even though you only pay for the time you actually use). This way, you get a chance to have a thorough discussion in just 1-3 mediation sessions, rather than multiple short meetings with your attorneys and costly back-and-forth over the telephone.
California has a law that states that an agreement must be finalized at least 7 days before your wedding. But as long as you abide by this 7-day rule, you can begin your discussions as soon or as late as you wish. Cal Fam Code § 1615