LEGAL ADVICE
Why every law enforcement
officer should have a prenup
I recently overheard a conversation be-
tween two law enforcement officers that went
something like this:
Officer #1: “Did you hear Smith is getting
married?”
Officer #2: “Yeah, he’s so young. We should
CHRISTINA
PREVITE, ESQ. talk him out of it.”
Officer #1: “We’ll give him a gift certificate
for the divorce.” (laughter)
Me: “No! Just tell him to do a prenup!”
Guy #1: “He doesn’t need a prenup. He’s a rookie. He
doesn’t have anything.”
That is where they’re wrong. Prenups aren’t useless for
people who “don’t have anything” — unless you plan on nev-
er having anything. Prenups are very important for people
who are going to have something in the future. (And they’re
definitely important for people who have something now.)
The most important “something” that comes to mind is
your pension — but also deferred compensation plans, that
side business you have been thinking about (or started al-
ready), a house and an inheritance, just to name a few.
You might be thinking, “I can’t ask for a prenup. My fiancé
will flip out.” Or you might be thinking (as most people do),
“I don’t need it. We’re not going to get divorced.”
Another misconception about prenups is that your fian-
cé has to agree that you get everything and he or she gets
nothing — also not true. All a prenup does is establish in ad-
vance how things will be addressed if and when the marriage
comes to an end. And it doesn’t have to address everything.
It could just address one thing, like how (or if) a pension will
be split.
Divorces involving law enforcement officers almost al-
ways focus on how the LEO’s pension will be distributed.
Most LEOs want to keep it. However, often the only way you
can keep it is to pay the other spouse his or her marital share,
which could be hundreds of thousands of dollars. Where is
that going to come from? If the other attorney is actually do-
ing his or her job, he or she will also insist that you maintain
life insurance to secure your spouse’s share of your pension
if you die first.
Do you really want to deal with all of that if you get di-
vorced? I hope you never get divorced, but what if you do?
If you could agree before the marriage that the pension will
not be subject to equitable distribution, or that the non-pen-
sioner spouse would get a specific dollar amount in lieu of
a distribution, it would save you thousands of dollars in le-
gal fees, and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars
from your pension. I bet if you ask any LEO who has been
divorced, he or she will tell you that they should have done
a prenup. (Well, they will probably also tell you that they
should never have gotten married, but don’t listen to them.)
Just do a prenup.
Christina Previte, Esq. has been a New Jersey divorce lawyer
for 15 years. She is CEO and co-founder of NJ Divorce Solu-
tions, a full-service divorce law firm. She has experience han-
dling the unique issues that arise in LEO divorces, such as
distribution of pensions and early retirement as it relates to
support. For more information, please visit www.centraljer-
seyfamilylaw.com.
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NJ Divorce Solutions – Previte Nachlinger, P.C.
120 Wood Ave South, Suite 602, Iselin, NJ 08830
732-384-1707
www.CentralJerseyFamilyLaw.com
www.njcopsmagazine.com
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