I was interviewed by Kaitlin Reilly, a journalist for Yahoo News, for an article published on Friday, June 27 about my views on prenups, the Mackenzie/Bezos divorce settlement, and what good prenups should do (and not do).
The interview is HERE.
I give Kaitlin many credits and kudos for quoting me correctly (and copiously).
My particular bugaboo is when news reports say that Mackenzie Scott “walked away” with half of Bezos’ wealth as if she stole it. First of all, she received one-third the amount of Amazon stock that Bezos received, second this was a long first marriage with four kids. Marriage is an equal partnership under the laws of all states.
Here’s what I was quoted as saying (and did say) in Kaitlin’s article:
“Laurie Israel, an attorney and mediator who works with prenuptial and postnuptial agreements and has written books on creating more equitable agreements, told Yahoo News that prenups are a “financial plan for your marriage” — and that while they are not always necessary, there are a few good reasons to have one drafted up. Bezos and Sánchez tick pretty much all those boxes, she said.”
“[She] said that if, like Bezos and Sánchez, you have a lot of money and assets to divide up, a prenup provides a “clear path” on what to do with it if there’s a divorce. A prenup can also be important if you come into the marriage with significant money from your family.”
“Should you choose not to get a prenup, you leave your divorce up to the state — and, as Israel noted, ‘the laws in every state say that when money that’s built up during a marriage, it should be marital property, and in practically all circumstances, it’s equally divided.’”
“While some people may have raised eyebrows about the billions that Scott received after her divorce from Bezos, Israel says it’s indicative of the fact that their relationship was a partnership.”
“People offer different things in a marriage,” Israel said. “Very often it’s the guy that makes the money and the woman that is the primary person around the house and with the kids. But it’s a total partnership.”
“Not everyone needs to consider securing a prenup before they say their vows. In general, a young couple with no family money or a desire to own a business probably doesn’t need to spend what can be thousands of dollars to secure one of these documents. “And that’s a good thing, because as Israel warned, prenups have a tendency to make people really unhappy.”
“You can protect your assets but really destroy your marriage, as a lot of prenups do, because of their terms and the way they’re negotiated,” she said.
“Right now, we have no clue what could be in Bezos and Sánchez’s prenup, should it exist. However, [Laurie] said that it’s common for affluent people to take a “snapshot” of their wealth and assets prior to the marriage and for everything made after that moment in time to be considered marital assets.
This “snapshot” method actually becoming a more commonly used method in the prenups I am mediating for couples and/or negotiating for clients. It respects the premarital assets that were built up prior to the marriage but also gives a marraige a strong-step upwards towards creating marital or community property which tends to support the marital connection. It’s definitely a technique that would well be considered in many prenup situations.