Marriage Contract

We don't have a marriage contract. When we started a family, we didn't care about dividing assets in case of divorce because we didn't have any. I came to America with a single suitcase and a child, and my husband had a contract job and rented a room at his mom's house. So, we have literally started from the ground.

Most of my friends are married an "average Joe" and don't have marriage contracts. But I know a few women who signed prenuptial agreements. I don't see anything bad in having a marriage contract. What is bad is that almost all of them (even the one who used to be a lawyer in Russia) are not sure whether or not signing the contract was a right decision.

Marriage contracts are quite popular in the US and Europe, but not in modern Russia. In monarchical Russia (until 1917), when it was common for a bride to have a dowry, marriage contracts were signed by bride's and groom's fathers, or by a bride's father and a groom himself if he has already reached middle age. In a marriage contract it was described how much money, property and live stock a bride brings to a groom's family. If the case of a shortage, groom's relatives could lay claim or cancel a wedding. Of course, there were no agreements about divorce, because divorces were prohibited by church. Spouses couldn't have separate assets either, because women's rights were very limited.

Mikhail Shibanov. Signing of Marriage Contract. 1777.
Oil on canvas. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.

In the Soviet period, marriage contracts didn't exist at all. People didn't have private property, what's to divide?

So, when an American man brings a conversation about signing a marriage contract, usually his Russian fiancee experiences quite a shock. She gets upset, "Why don't you trust me?" or "We are not married yet, and you are already thinking about getting a divorce!" But, as I already said, marriage contracts are pretty usual for the US. Many people buy life insurance - it doesn't mean that they are going to die soon.

In a Russian-American marriage, the main purpose of prenuptial agreements is to protect money of American's side in case of a divorce. There are 2 types of such agreements:

First type is when a wife promises not to have any claims to husband's assets that he already had before their marriage. Actually, such agreements just repeat the law and are unnecessary: by law, pre-marital assets are not subject to division.

Second type is when a husband tries drawing a boundary line between his wife and his assets which she has legal rights to claim. It might be real estate bought during marriage, his business, etc. By law, all assets earned during marriage will be divided in a case of divorce, even if a wife didn't work.

In general, American men insisting on signing a marriage contract are rich and either lost much money during their previous divorce or are scared of Internet stories about "insidious Russian brides hunting for money."

In my opinion, don't get scared yet if you are offered to sign a prenuptial agreement. But be very careful about its content. Don't sign if you don't like it.

Here are a few suggestions for Russian brides:

• Don't sign a contract slipped into you in the last minute before wedding ("Honey, tomorrow is our wedding, so please sign this contract. If you don't sign, the wedding is off"). Most likely, its conditions are very disadvantageous for you. Your response should be that you can't sign such an important document without going carefully into all details.
• Don't try to translate a contract yourself, even if your English is pretty good. Legal documents are written by a very specific language. Chances that you will misunderstand or misinterpret something are very high. Ask your fiancee to provide you with a certified translation made by a translation agency specializing in translation of legal documents. The agency's name, mailing address, phone number and the date of translation must be presented on the translation.
  This translation service is very good:
  
• Read the translation thoroughly several times. Underline everything that you don't understand. Take a piece of paper and make a list of questions. Try to imagine all possible situations ("What if…").
• If your fiancee insists on signing a contact, he should hire a lawyer (different than his own) and a professional translator to work with you. Ask your lawyer all questions from the list you made. Don't be shy to re-ask when you don't understand something.

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