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Why Are There So Few Prenuptial Agreements
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Mahar, Heather |
| Copyright Year | 2003 |
| Abstract | Why do individuals usually fail to employ prenuptial agreements to govern the terms of their marriages despite the potential value of such agreements? In seeking an answer, this paper first explains that there is no legal obstacle that prevents prenuptial agreements; these agreements are usually enforced by the courts. The paper then discusses two major explanations for the paucity of prenuptial agreements: underestimation of the value of prenuptial agreements, especially due to false optimism that marriages will last; and a belief that discussing prenuptial agreements would signal uncertainty about marriage. The paper reports on and analyzes a survey undertaken by the author that strongly supports these two explanations for the lack of prenuptial agreements. * John M. Olin Research Fellow in Law and Economics, I am grateful to Christine Jolls, Louis Kaplow, Thomas Miles, Steven Shavell, Kip Viscusi, and to participants in the law and economics seminar at Harvard Law School for helpful comments and to the John M. Olin Center for Law, Economics, and Business at Harvard Law School for research support. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://lsr.nellco.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1224&context=harvard_olin&httpsredir=1&referer= |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/olin_center/papers/pdf/436.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
