Kevin Costner Prenup

19 Jul 2023 · 1 min

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1:01

In this commentary, the speaker explains the relevance of the Kevin Costner‑Christine Baumgartner divorce to prenuptial agreements. He outlines why prenups are common when one partner is significantly wealthier, describing the three core sections most prenups contain: (1) a schedule of assets each party brings into the marriage, (2) the allocation of financial responsibilities during the marriage, and (3) the division of assets if the marriage ends. He highlights a frequently‑used “no‑contest” clause, noting that a party who challenges the prenup forfeits any benefits the agreement would otherwise grant them, leaving the division entirely to the court’s discretion. The speaker hints at two additional provisions that high‑net‑worth individuals often consider when drafting a prenup, underscoring the importance of understanding these clauses before signing.

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Unless you've been living under a rock, you're probably aware that Christine Baumgartner has filed for divorce from Kevin Costner. Now, before they were married, they entered into a prenuptial agreement. And prenuptial agreements are very common when one member of the couple is substantially better off economically than the other. The prenup is a way of allowing them to protect the assets that they came into the marriage with. Prenups generally set out who has what coming into the marriage, who's responsible for what during the marriage, and who gets what if the marriage ends in divorce. You may not be aware of, and I haven't seen references, that a common provision in just about every prenup I've seen is that there is a no contest clause. What does that mean? It means that if you contest the prenup, by doing so, you are giving up your right to anything that the prenup would otherwise provide to you. So if the prenup says, if we get divorced, you get $1 million, if you contest that prenup, you lose the $1 million, and then you'll get whatever the court decides. If you have a substantial amount of money and you're entering into a prenup before getting married, there are two other things