Latest / Pursuit of Sassiness / The Red Flags You Can't Ignore With A Prenup
Transcript
- 0:03Speaker 1: Hey guys, it's Kelly Kaloran, Benson Lemon with I Do
- 0:24Speaker 1: Part Two.
- 0:24Speaker 2: We're here with Courtney Robertson and divorce attorney, stellar divorce attorney,
- 0:29Speaker 2: Dennis Vetrano. When we have some burning questions, about prenups.
- 0:33Speaker 2: Let's get started. What are some red flags you should
- 0:36Speaker 2: look for when reviewing a prenup?
- 0:38Speaker 3: Oh God. I mean, I think there can be any
- 0:41Speaker 3: one of a number of different red flags in terms
- 0:43Speaker 3: of prenups, but I think here's the most important thing
- 0:46Speaker 3: to keep in mind. Your situation, your situation, your relationship,
- 0:49Speaker 3: let's not even call it the prenup or the divorce
- 0:52Speaker 3: or your assets. Your relationship is its own thing. It
- 0:57Speaker 3: will be different from everyone else's. There will be similarities,
- 1:00Speaker 3: of course. You need to look at this prenup as
- 1:04Speaker 3: a piece, an extension of the building of your relationship.
- 1:09Speaker 3: It is transparency. It is knowing what you can expect
- 1:12Speaker 3: from each other moving forward. I think we're so hyper-focused
- 1:16Speaker 3: on the divorce and the money and who pays what.
- 1:19Speaker 3: What do you expect from him or her? And what
- 1:23Speaker 3: does the other person expect from you? That's what it
- 1:26Speaker 3: comes down to. So if they say, hey, I'm in software,
- 1:30Speaker 3: I'm in tech, I'm a multi-multi-millionaire. I make plenty of
- 1:33Speaker 3: money and we've decided together, not I'm telling you, not
- 1:37Speaker 3: I want you to do. We've decided together that the
- 1:40Speaker 3: other person's going to be a stay-at-home parent. Then you
- 1:43Speaker 3: got to know there's got to be transparency and there's
- 1:45Speaker 3: got to be that expectancy for the what if. And
- 1:49Speaker 3: I think how people approach these terms and these prenups
- 1:54Speaker 3: will speak volumes about who the person is at their core. So,
- 1:59Speaker 3: and I don't think it's really a place where you're
- 2:01Speaker 3: making major judgments, but you can make a number of
- 2:04Speaker 3: different observations and really just process what's going on here.
- 2:08Speaker 3: So I think, you know, we're always thinking it, well,
- 2:11Speaker 3: back up a little bit. I'll share a quote that
- 2:13Speaker 3: my mother-in-law shared with my wife when she was dating
- 2:16Speaker 3: before we met. Said, you should choose with your head,
- 2:20Speaker 3: not your heart. And I know that's very difficult for
- 2:24Speaker 3: people to focus on. And, you know, it's always, we
- 2:26Speaker 3: always want the, you know, the fairy tale, and I
- 2:30Speaker 3: get it. But sometimes, actually most of the time, from
- 2:33Speaker 3: my perspective, choose with the things you know you need
- 2:37Speaker 3: out of another person that you know you want and
- 2:39Speaker 3: expect out of life. And the prenup actually, as you
- 2:44Speaker 3: lay out what are your debts, what are your assets,
- 2:46Speaker 3: what do you expect from the other person, what if
- 2:48Speaker 3: we do this, what if we do that, What they're
- 2:51Speaker 3: suggesting in all of those what ifs and all their
- 2:53Speaker 3: background will tell you volumes about that person. And then
- 2:57Speaker 3: it'll help you say, like you said, hey, you don't
- 2:59Speaker 3: want to sign a prenup. Okay, goodbye. It's not where
- 3:04Speaker 3: I want to be.
- 3:05Speaker 2: Now that we've talked about like, you know, all these emotions.
- 3:08Speaker 3: Well, I think, let me just, if you give me
- 3:11Speaker 3: a second just to chat about the emotions. I think
- 3:14Speaker 3: that's such an important piece of all of it. Thank you.
- 3:20Speaker 3: It's all of it. I think so. So people don't
- 3:24Speaker 3: realize that as you go through life, you're growing and
- 3:26Speaker 3: changing and evolving. But when you go through a traumatic
- 3:29Speaker 3: experience like a divorce, you know, it's funny. I've heard somebody,
- 3:33Speaker 3: I think it was a psychologist, share. They say that
- 3:36Speaker 3: people are three degrees away from their normal baseline personality
- 3:41Speaker 3: when they're going through a divorce.
- 3:43Speaker 4: This is so helpful, Dennis.
- 3:45Speaker 3: So you got to like accept that. So if you're
- 3:47Speaker 3: a little pissed off or you're a little out of
- 3:49Speaker 3: sorts or a little bit out of the ordinary, you
- 3:51Speaker 3: just can't process things in the same way that you do. Yeah, yep,
- 3:54Speaker 3: that's what's going to happen. That's what it's going to be.
- 3:57Speaker 3: So I think going through that, healing from that, learning
- 4:03Speaker 3: who your new you is, accepting that new you, loving
- 4:09Speaker 3: that new you, and feeling like that new you is
- 4:12Speaker 3: enough such that you do not need someone else to
- 4:17Speaker 3: fill a void. That is what will bring that, as
- 4:22Speaker 3: you call it, lobster to you. That's what does it.
- 4:28Speaker 3: It doesn't like, oh, let me see. Can I find somebody?
- 4:30Speaker 3: Is there datings? Just do you, man. Naturally, organically, you
- 4:34Speaker 3: will find the right person at the right time if
- 4:36Speaker 3: you even need the right person.
- 4:39Speaker 2: And the emotional trauma and the financial trauma is what
- 4:41Speaker 2: you were talking about, that is so unbelievably thick and very, very,
- 4:48Speaker 2: very difficult to navigate. And, you know, I had no
- 4:52Speaker 2: choice because I have two kids. I had to just
- 4:55Speaker 2: move forward and provide for my children. But I'm not
- 4:59Speaker 2: going to say it was easy. Everyone's like, oh, you
- 5:01Speaker 2: just make it look so easy.
- 5:03Speaker 3: No, no.
- 5:04Speaker 2: Make is the operative word. I make it look easy.
- 5:07Speaker 3: It is not easy.
- 5:08Speaker 4: Make it till you make it.
- 5:11Speaker 2: I was crying in my closet. I was like, how
- 5:13Speaker 2: am I going to do this? I was like, no
- 5:14Speaker 2: man's going to ever love me. With my first husband,
- 5:16Speaker 2: I was like, everyone thinks that I'm just a nobody.
- 5:19Speaker 2: Then my second fiance, I'm like, now he's trying to
- 5:22Speaker 2: exploit me. I can't get a break. And I know
- 5:26Speaker 2: a lot of women feel like that.
- 5:29Speaker 3: And when you have kids, sometimes you don't have the
- 5:33Speaker 3: time to grieve. I didn't. You don't have the time
- 5:36Speaker 3: to cry in the way that you need to. You
- 5:38Speaker 3: don't have time to process. You don't have because you're
- 5:41Speaker 3: expected to suck it up, swallow it and and have
- 5:45Speaker 3: a brave, brave face for your kids.
- 5:48Speaker 2: And by the way, Dennis, if you if you don't
- 5:51Speaker 2: just kind of like lock into your friends and family
- 5:55Speaker 2: and say, I need help. I need to move forward.
- 5:58Speaker 2: I need the strength.
- 5:59Speaker 3: Let's go.
- 6:00Speaker 2: I mean, this podcast really, really, really shifted my energy
- 6:04Speaker 2: because I was talking to people like me. We were
- 6:08Speaker 2: sharing stories. I felt comfortable saying I was so I
- 6:13Speaker 2: was a mess.
- 6:14Speaker 4: A hot mess express. That's me right now. I have
- 6:17Speaker 4: no shame in my game.
- 6:19Speaker 2: They were like, oh, you go to red carpets and
- 6:22Speaker 2: you smile. I'm like, that doesn't mean I'm not like
- 6:24Speaker 2: literally frying inside.
- 6:27Speaker 4: Your hands are getting anxiety. You talked about your sweaty palms.
- 6:31Speaker 3: That's an effing job. People don't realize that is a brand.
- 6:35Speaker 3: You need to live your brand every day. And obviously,
- 6:38Speaker 3: I don't have the same level of notoriety that you do.
- 6:41Speaker 3: But I mean, even for myself, like I need to
- 6:43Speaker 3: live a brand every day. I live the companies. I
- 6:46Speaker 3: live who I am, my persona every single day. So
- 6:48Speaker 3: I have to be really doubly certain about the way
- 6:51Speaker 3: I'm dealing with people, the way I show up in public.
- 6:53Speaker 3: That is a job. That is pressure. That is locked
- 6:57Speaker 3: in focus. That's not enjoyment.
- 6:59Speaker 4: And some people don't understand that because what we do
- 7:02Speaker 4: is different. And so everybody has their own map of
- 7:05Speaker 4: the world. Like what I do, what Kelly, what you do.
- 7:08Speaker 4: We all have our own.
- 7:09Speaker 2: Map of the world.
- 7:10Speaker 4: I love that you said it's a brand. Like we
- 7:13Speaker 4: are a little bit not conventional. And that's why I
- 7:15Speaker 4: like to try to, you know, not everybody's going to understand, right? Like, so,
- 7:22Speaker 4: but Kelly, off with his head. You're riding shotgun with me.
- 7:38Speaker 2: This is not a sexy thing to think about, but like,
- 7:41Speaker 2: what are the five things that you need to have
- 7:45Speaker 2: ready to go when you're going to put a prenup together?
- 7:50Speaker 3: What we typically, yeah, I mean, what we typically ask
- 7:54Speaker 3: for at the outset is really just a net worth statement.
- 7:57Speaker 3: So I really just want people to focus on like,
- 8:00Speaker 3: what are the assets that are out there that you're
- 8:02Speaker 3: trying to protect? What do they plan their future is
- 8:04Speaker 3: going to be? What do they expect from this other person?
- 8:08Speaker 3: And I think one thing, and again, I know I
- 8:10Speaker 3: keep coming back to it. People are always looking at
- 8:12Speaker 3: the end game with the prenup, but the prenup, if
- 8:15Speaker 3: it's being done right, is an opportunity for you to
- 8:18Speaker 3: get some insight into the other person. Not only the
- 8:21Speaker 3: finances and the income and the credit score and all
- 8:24Speaker 3: of those things, but also what can you expect from
- 8:28Speaker 3: that person moving forward? And I think as you go
- 8:30Speaker 3: through those things, The red flags that will come up
- 8:34Speaker 3: is if what they're asking you for in the prenup
- 8:38Speaker 3: is different than what they've said to you or you've
- 8:40Speaker 3: talked about. So you say, hey, you know, I want
- 8:43Speaker 3: to take care of you. I want you to stay
- 8:45Speaker 3: home with the kids. But you don't get anything if
- 8:47Speaker 3: we get divorced and I don't want to pay child support.
- 8:51Speaker 3: So and each and every one of those terms. So
- 8:54Speaker 3: and I mean, there's also just things that are just
- 8:57Speaker 3: like not logical. So if it comes up with something like, hey,
- 9:00Speaker 3: I just want to make sure if I'm if you
- 9:03Speaker 3: find out that I did X or Y or Z
- 9:05Speaker 3: that maybe there's something underlying that, you know, I won't
- 9:09Speaker 3: agree to a no cheating clause. They could be cheating already. So,
- 9:12Speaker 3: I mean, again, if it's something if you look at
- 9:15Speaker 3: that prenup and it seems like it doesn't fit with
- 9:19Speaker 3: what you expect from this person, your expectations with what
- 9:22Speaker 3: you with who you believe they are. and what you
- 9:26Speaker 3: believe their behavior will be moving forward. I always say
- 9:29Speaker 3: with relationships, your core values need to be aligned. I'm
- 9:34Speaker 3: a big proponent of two people having their own lives,
- 9:39Speaker 3: their own independence, their own sources of income, their own thing.
- 9:42Speaker 3: And not just because I feel like it's good, you know,
- 9:48Speaker 3: it will put them in a better position if somebody
- 9:50Speaker 3: doesn't pay child support, you have to file court orders
- 9:52Speaker 3: and be able to support themselves. but for your own independence.
- 9:56Speaker 3: You have to maintain your own person. You can't like, okay,
- 10:00Speaker 3: when you get married, yes. Now you're a married couple.
- 10:02Speaker 3: Of course, there's a married life, but there's also your
- 10:05Speaker 3: independent self. There's also your own identity. And there needs
- 10:10Speaker 3: to be, there needs to be the two. There needs
- 10:12Speaker 3: to be the two.
- 10:14Speaker 4: Well, I've been guilty of losing myself. Sorry to, I'm
- 10:17Speaker 4: just taking notes here because I'm old school.
- 10:20Speaker 2: But so did I.
- 10:21Speaker 4: I've been guilty of losing, losing myself in relationships. And
- 10:26Speaker 4: what I just heard, how I translated that is you gotta,
- 10:29Speaker 4: you can't lose yourself.
- 10:31Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 10:32Speaker 2: You know, what's interesting is that when, when, you know,
- 10:35Speaker 2: some people were very, very negative towards me about what
- 10:38Speaker 2: I was doing and getting, you know, getting a divorce and,
- 10:42Speaker 2: you know, they're being negative and I'm trying to like,
- 10:45Speaker 2: you know, push this, the positivity and, but everybody goes
- 10:49Speaker 2: through these things. Everyone's going through these emotions. And I'm just, Courtney,
- 10:54Speaker 2: I love that you're so open about how you feel.
- 10:58Speaker 4: Well, I need my core people. I mean, I, but
- 11:02Speaker 4: what I'm hearing you say, Kelly, there's an imaginary audience.
- 11:06Speaker 4: Like everybody has their own going on, right? You can
- 11:10Speaker 4: lean on your people and they will be there for you,
- 11:13Speaker 4: but I mean, we live in a world where everybody
- 11:15Speaker 4: has their own stuff going on. There's an imaginary audience.
- 11:17Speaker 4: And I think that, you know, I can be Van
- 11:20Speaker 4: Gogh and I can paint a picture in my mind
- 11:22Speaker 4: of what is this person thinking about me? People Magazine,
- 11:25Speaker 4: I'm releasing a statement. And that's something, Kelly, you and
- 11:28Speaker 4: I can talk about offline. But I think if you're listening,
- 11:31Speaker 4: you know, I am guilty of losing myself in romantic relationships.
- 11:36Speaker 4: I've had them since I was 18.
- 11:38Speaker 3: I'm 43 now.
- 11:40Speaker 4: Um, and Dennis, that's kind of what I, I mean,
- 11:43Speaker 4: I have so many pages of notes here and I, I,
- 11:46Speaker 4: I'm sorry if I was just so fired up today
- 11:49Speaker 4: because I'm, it's my first day without the kids. I've
- 11:52Speaker 4: had them and you touched on that. I've had them
- 11:54Speaker 4: for a week. Yeah.
- 11:57Speaker 3: And I, and I think now's the time and brief
- 12:00Speaker 3: pockets of time to let's start off with not give
- 12:04Speaker 3: a fuck what anybody else thinks about what they think. I, you,
- 12:08Speaker 3: you really, you really, and it's funny because I tell
- 12:11Speaker 3: my wife this pretty often lately. I say at 50,
- 12:14Speaker 3: I'm turning 55 tomorrow. Oh my gosh. Happy.
- 12:19Speaker 4: Oh my goodness.
- 12:21Speaker 2: You're a Virgo.
- 12:22Speaker 3: I am.
- 12:23Speaker 1: I love it.
- 12:23Speaker 2: Happy birthday, Dennis.
- 12:25Speaker 1: Thank you.
- 12:26Speaker 3: So at 55, I tell my wife and really anybody
- 12:29Speaker 3: who will listen for that matter. Cause I like to talk. So, um, I, uh,
- 12:34Speaker 3: I have grown into who I am. and am comfortable
- 12:38Speaker 3: with who I am more than I ever have been
- 12:41Speaker 3: in my entire life. So when I go into a room,
- 12:45Speaker 3: no matter who it is, no matter where it is,
- 12:47Speaker 3: no matter what it is, I don't worry about, are
- 12:51Speaker 3: they going to like me? I don't.
- 12:53Speaker 2: I don't.
- 12:54Speaker 3: I'm the guy that's going to go to a place
- 12:55Speaker 3: where it's a black tie and I'm going to say,
- 12:57Speaker 3: I'll take a cheeseburger and I'll take an ice cold beer.
- 12:59Speaker 3: And if people don't like it, that's fine. That's fine.
- 13:03Speaker 2: And I'll be on my phone watching the game.
- 13:04Speaker 3: Right. I keep my side of the street clean in
- 13:07Speaker 3: that I try to be the best person I can
- 13:09Speaker 3: be and everything else, the chips are going to fall
- 13:11Speaker 3: where they may. And I think as you go through
- 13:12Speaker 3: the divorce process, it's really sage advice to say, not
- 13:17Speaker 3: give an F what anyone else thinks, including sometimes your
- 13:21Speaker 3: mom or your dad or your sister or your brother.
- 13:23Speaker 1: Boundaries.
- 13:24Speaker 3: You're living your own reality and you're doing the best
- 13:27Speaker 3: you can. And for most, they're doing a pretty good
- 13:30Speaker 3: job and they just don't know it.
- 13:31Speaker 2: All right, everybody.
- 13:32Speaker 4: Kelly, I've loved connecting with you. And Dennis, I hope
- 13:36Speaker 4: you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please rate, review, subscribe,
- 13:40Speaker 4: maybe share it with a friend who might be going
- 13:42Speaker 4: through something similar. Do you have questions about prenups? Maybe
- 13:46Speaker 4: you need some advice. We want to help you out.
- 13:49Speaker 4: So send us an email or leave a voicemail. All
- 13:53Speaker 4: the info in the show notes. So follow us on
- 13:55Speaker 4: social medias, wherever you listen to your shows. I do
- 14:00Speaker 4: part two. an iHeart podcast where falling in love is
- 14:04Speaker 4: the main objective.