Nipping the Nuptials: Prenups & Love

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently married his longtime girlfriend of over 9 years. There was a lot of opinions as to if Zuckerberg should, or should not have a prenuptial agreement.

To clarify, a prenuptial agreement, or prenup is “a contract entered into prior to marriage, civil union or any other agreement prior to the main agreement by the people intending to marry or contract with each other. The content of a prenuptial agreement can vary widely, but commonly includes provisions for division of property and spousal support in the event of divorce or breakup of marriage. They may also include terms for the forfeiture of assets as a result of divorce on the grounds of adultery; further conditions of guardianship may be included as well.” (Thanks Wiki!)

Usually, you see people talk about prenups when one party has a lot of wealth, and to protect themselves in case of divorce, and they don’t lose a significant amount of their assets. There have been a lot of situations where prenups have been discussed; Kobe Bryant and wife Vanessa were looking to divorce last year, to which he stood to fork over 100 million dollars, due to there not being a prenup (which prompted rapper Drake to mention the situation in a recent rap, entitled “Stay Schemin”:

“Kobe ’bout to lose a hundred fifty M’s
Kobe my n—- I hate it, had to be him
B—- you wasn’t with me shooting in the gym”

 The last line of that verse is often proclaimed by anyone now when talking about prenups. Even when I asked my best buddy Troy about this situation, he stated that Zuckerberg should yell out “You wasn’t with me in them dorms!” Jay-Z and Beyoncé recently married (details of the prenup are here), which, looks to protect both of the stars if things go south. Hall-of-Famer Deion Saunders recently underwent a messy divorce (details here), and I don’t want to get started about the Humpries-Kardashian wedding (I have written blogs that lasted longer than their marriage).

My take on prenup? It’s not for me. A lot of people on Facebook believe there should be a prenup in place, and while I understand their viewpoint, I disagree. The new Mrs. Zuckerberg was there BEFORE Facebook ever existed, and I am pretty sure she has been there throughout the development. Was she there writing codes and doing technical support? Probably not, but if Zuckerberg is like me, I am pretty sure that he has asked her for her input.

My wife plays a huge part in my success with school, my entertainment company, this blog, and other areas of my life. Has she dj’ed a wedding, or written a paper, or posted a blog? NO, but she has talked to me about my mixes and playlists, made sure that I scheduled an appropriate time to meet with clients, and she proofs all of my blogs and contracts, including this one (thanks Babe!). So, when my company is successful, she also reaps the benefits. She has been here from the start. I find it funny that people get married, and they often forget these words:

“To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.”

Bottom line is, I am not anti-prenup, I am Pro-Love. Isn’t that the reason for getting married? As always, thanks for reading.

Garry

Ps. Below is Eddie Murphy’s view on getting marriage and money. Still funny.