Legal Question in Business Law in Georgia
Getting Married
My boyfriend and I are thinking of getting married but in the past he had his own business and some people threatened to sue him. He is agraid that if or when we marry those people may come back and try to sue him and take his money and mine. Can they do this? How do we avoid having them take my assets?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Getting Married
I would be happy to work with you on drafting an antenuptial agreement and strategy that will address your concerns. The fee for this is relatively low. Call me if you are interested.
Re: Getting Married
It will certainly affect you, as financial problems always affect marriages one way or the other. If you want to protect your assets, the simple (but not necessarily 100% effective) thing to do is maintain fully separate accounts and property. That means no joint ownership of a home, bank accounts, etc. That also means that husband does not start transferring his property to you thinking it will protect the assets. You do this as long as it takes to get well beyond the time in which he could be sued (if that time ever passes). You don't need a lawyer to do this - you simply start doing it from the very beginning. Prenuptual agreement and antenuptual agreement (which address financial matters between you and your husband, not third parties going after one or both of you) won't solve the problem of third parties getting at assets. To the extent you may want to see a lawyer about these and other marital issues, it is very important you hire a lawyer whose primary practice is domestic law - not someone who holds themselves out as merely able to do one for a fee (alonf with several other areas of practice). Much like a will, when you find out it has been done wrong, it is way to late to fix it. You can usually see by someone's website or profile if this is their primary practice, or better yet, get a referral from a lawyer or trusted friend or family member.
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