Everyone has bright expectations going into a marriage. But if you have obligations to kids or elderly parents, especially if you or your partner has accumulated debts or savings, you need a prenuptial agreement and a will. You have to prioritize. Conventional wisdom is that the bride and groom should each have their own attorney for the prenup. The same goes for the will.
Many lawyers like to video tape the signing.
Best of all, she says, with a video witness of the event one party can't change the story later. Give yourself plenty of time to work out the prenup, and read it thoroughly. The more complicated your life is, with businesses, first marriages, second marriages and children, the more careful you have to be in enunciating exactly what you want. Engel warns that, despite the frequency of remarriage, courts don't recognize stepchildren as heirs. If you have older kids, Bendix recommends gifting.