People in Maryland may have seen a recent news articles about the correlation between the cost of a wedding and the likelihood of divorce. Everyone knows how expensive it can be to prepare for hundreds of friends and family and make everything just perfect for the big day, but most people may not realize that how much they spend could be an indicator of future marital longevity.
Perhaps surprisingly, a recent study performed by economics professors at Emory University showed that those who have a less expensive wedding are less likely to get a divorce. And shockingly, those who spent over $20,000 on their wedding divorced approximately 1.6 times as often as those whose weddings cost less than $10,000.
The study doesn’t necessarily explain the correlation, but there are a few potential reasons. For one, money arguments are a major contributing factor in divorce, and couples who spend beyond their means on a huge expensive wedding may be setting themselves up for failure. On the flipside, it could be that wealthier people in general are more likely to have a more expensive wedding, and may also be more likely to divorce at some point in their lives.
Nobody wants to be thinking about divorce on their wedding day, but people can achieve peace of mind through the use of a prenuptial agreement. As if high net worth individuals needed another reason to enter into a prenuptial agreement, this study provides yet more evidence that they will very likely need to protect themselves in the event of a divorce. A prenuptial agreement is a great way to protect each spouse’s respective property going into the marriage, and can also be used to settle potentially messy disputes over marital property accrued during the union.
No matter how much wealth a person has, a prenuptial agreement is a practical and useful step that can help any marriage thrive, and provide protection in the event things don’t go as planned.
Source: CNN, “Want a happy marriage? Have a big, cheap wedding,” Oct. 13, 2014