Prenups!

I am not familiar with California law, so my comment is more of a general nature. I would encourage a pre-nup (depending on your state) for a few reasons if you are the higher income earner. The pre-nup clearly states what property and assets you are bringing into the marriage, thus if/when it ends, those are solely yours. It is also important to note any debt as well. And, if you have children from a prior marriage, what assets or property will go to them. Where things usually go sideways are in community property states, where pretty much all assets and liabilities gained during the course of the marriage are just split down the middle. And, even if you are not in one of those states, a good attorney can hammer out a lot of things that aren't to your benefit. For me, the benefit was to preserve my assets that I was bringing in, as well as having no debt. This was helpful at the end (not to speak ill of my ex, but... 😄) since my divorce was a long time ago- he did some very shady financial things that ended up becoming a really big problem for him. Since some of the original seed money for one of his ventures came from one of my personal accounts, I got dragged years later into the middle of something that I was unaware of, & could have derailed my career. Because I was able to prove that this was an asset I had before our marriage, and I was unaware of what was happening (I was living in another state), I dodged a bullet. But, lesson learned- this was a while ago, & it was easier for nefarious spouses (or anyone) to access accounts that had the same address, but different name. For me currently, the big takeaway is to review your financial statements of all accounts and credit reports regularly. It is critical to have a good attorney in your state work with you on these issues- as well as some other things that might be specific to your state, laws concerning gifts, etc. The money you pay on the front end is well worth it, not only for your peace of mind, but for anyone that you want to benefit from things that were yours to begin with (children & grandchildren of 1st marriages will completely understand how this can go badly wrong if not done correctly up front) 🤨 Good luck to you- best wishes!!!

Prenups are meant to level the playing field but they do so at the expense of the higher earner