Wife Says She Has No Money Because She Signed A Strict Prenup And Is 'Not Allowed To Work'
“I feel like this is financial abuse disguised as something else.”
gpointstudio | Shutterstock Financial matters are always important for spouses to work out. Some couples choose to combine their assets, while others keep them separate.
For some, keeping money separate isn’t enough. Instead, they choose to put a prenuptial agreement in place to lay out how their money will be handled legally.
For one couple who did this, it seems like it may have been the wrong choice.
A husband made his wife sign a strict prenup and won’t let her work.
An anonymous woman posted on Reddit in the “Legal Advice” section seeking help for her confusing and difficult situation. She said that just two days before her wedding, her husband asked her to sign a prenup.
The soon-to-be-wife was a bit concerned about this but didn’t really know what else to do.
“I didn’t understand his finances but knew his mom had property and was nervous because she’s giving him the family business when [she] passes,” she explained. “I felt a ton of pressure, and even though I knew it wasn’t right, I signed a prenup because I wanted him to know I love him for him — not for what he has.”
After two years of marriage, things have gotten even worse than feeling pressured into signing a prenup.
“Fast forward two years, and he has not wanted me to work,” she said. “I help clean the rentals at times (the ones his mom owns) and have helped take care of his disabled mom. If I’m not taking care of his mom, I take care of our home so he doesn’t have to clean two homes.”
“His reasoning for not wanting me to work is because he says ‘we’ have all the money we need, but in fact, if he were to leave me, I get nothing,” she continued.
Now, her husband’s mother is meddling in the financial affairs of their relationship even more than before.
She stated, “His mom now wants to buy a house for us but forbids me to be on the title. In our prenup, after rereading it, it says [he], and I can basically never grow our marital estate if she gifts anything to us.”
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“So basically, I have to live in a house that isn’t mine, do work for a company that will never be mine, and I’m not allowed to work because it puts ‘stress’ on my husband as I should be available to him,” she explained.
“I’m starting to get very nervous because he is to close on this house in the next week. I don’t even want to live there or be with him anymore, knowing that, basically, my entire financial future is up in the air," she said. "If he gets his inheritance, he could leave me for another woman, kick me out of our house, and I have zero recourse.”
Prenups are not uncommon, but they have rules, just like anything else.
Axios reported that “50% of U.S. adults said they at least somewhat supported the use of prenups.”
While the numbers for support may be high, only 20% of married couples actually have one.
Furthermore, there are many rules surrounding what can and cannot be included in a prenup.
Legal Zoom stated, “One of the core underlying philosophies of prenuptial agreements is that they should be fair and just for both spouses. To that end, a prenup cannot contain any provision that significantly favors one spouse over another, such as a disproportionate property division after divorce.”
While we don’t know the exact terms of this couple’s prenup, it does seem that their agreement may violate the rule that it must be “fair and just.” If this woman’s claims are true, her husband clearly got preferential treatment.
As many people in the comments section suggested, she should consult an attorney to see what her options are in her specific case.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.