By Shelley Buckholtz

Many more couples are considering prenuptial agreements prior to saying 'I Do'. Once reserved for only the wealthy, prenuptial agreements are becoming more common among baby boomers who have children from previous relationships, professionals in a shared practice or family business who want to ensure a spouse can't receive a portion of the business, or younger couples for whom one or both may inherit property from their parents.

Prenuptial agreements should not be used as a substitute for a couple's own estate planning and consultation with an experienced estate planning attorney, but a prenuptial agreement can provide additional protection in certain cases. For instance, a couple who have children from a different relationship may want to ensure that the children receive their assets at their death instead of their spouse. The couple should plan this accordingly in their individual estate plans, but the couple could bulletproof their intentions by entering into a well-drafted prenuptial agreement.

Another example is one where a professional such a doctor or dentist, or an owner in a family owned business, wants to ensure (or her partners want to ensure) that the spouse will not end up in business with them after the owner spouse dies. A prenuptial agreement can spell out that the business is the separate property of the owner spouse.

Finally, some clients are being asked to enter into prenuptial agreements by their parents who want to ensure their child does not commingle a future inheritance with their spouse.

Those who wish to enter into a prenuptial agreement should consider that there are do's and don'ts prior to execution:

Do

• Have each party represented by a lawyer.
• Start talking about and drafting the agreement several months before the wedding.
• Consider enlisting the help of a marriage counselor, financial planner or accountant.
• Research whether an additional waiver is needed for a workplace retirement plan.

Don't

• Hide any assets from a future spouse.
• Forget to assign responsibility for joint and separate debts, if applicable.
• Include things that could violate state laws, such as child-support payments.
• Use a prenup as a substitute for a will or estate plan.

(Source: WSJ July 3, 2010, "I love You, You're Perfect, Now Sign Here")