Media

Many people who initiate the process of developing a prenuptial agreement with their intended talk about their fears of what happened to a friend or a colleague who had a painful divorce in a marriage without a prenup.

Some of their friends saw a once beautiful marriage end in protracted litigation where there were children of the marriage who suffered along with their divorcing parents.  Some expressed anger that they had to equally share all assets earned during the marriage with their spouse in a divorce, even though it was they who earned most (or all) of the money that created the assets. I’ve heard all of these.

Like many others, I was fascinated to read Belle Burden’s “Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage” (2026) – a memoir about the abrupt and unexpected end of her twenty-year marriage. The main narrative in the book deals with Belle and her husband’s prenuptial agreement, the added amendment to it, the surprising and unanticipated end of the marriage, and its aftermath.  Much has been written about this.

What struck me most about Burden’s account were two unexpected themes – the first is the close family relationship Burden had with her stepmother Susan, dating from her childhood, after her father remarried after his divorce from her mother. And the second is how Belle lost faith in herself and her talents (especially, ironically, her ability to write), and how that affected her life — a malady in socialization that affects many young women and changes the course of their lives.

You’ve probably seen those signs in subways, buses, airports and other public places that asks the public to report anything suspicious. It’s a good way to help prevent crime, and even terrorist attacks.

“If You See Something, Say Something” is a national campaign. It originated in New York City after 9/11. The term was created by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority which runs the subways, buses and other public transportation in that city. It’s used now by many federal and state agencies.

As mediators, we spend a lot of time sitting in silence, listening to our clients’ stories. Through listening, we find out a lot of important things about them. It is through this open-ended listening (and observing) that we gather the material that helps us provide the tools with which we can help our clients resolve the problems they entered mediation to address.

This article was written by journalist Charlotte Cowles, published in The Cut the online lifestyle publication of New York Magazine. In this article Charlotte answers this question posted by a reader. 

“My boyfriend and I are engaged and planning to marry in the early fall. We’ve been together for two years, living together for one. He makes a little more money than I do — I’m a nurse, and he’s involved in his family business, which his dad and uncle own — but we’ve always been on the same page about spending. We split our shared costs (rent, utilities) and we’ve never really had major conflicts about money.

FFI Practioner published my article on Mediating Prenups for Children of Wealth. In it, I describe the benefits of starting with mediation. A prenup created collaboratively can strengthen a marriage rather than causing distress at the outset. Mediation transforms the prenup from a defensive document into a shared financial plan.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are getting married!  What kind of prenup should they have?  I think a “marriage friendly” one.   I and others were interviewed by Jennifer Graham in  her excellent article about thinking of a marriage protective prenup for these folks.

Read the Deseret News article HERE and my post on LinkedIn newsletter HERE.