Divorce lawyer and divorce attorney information provided here. Any good prenuptial agreement will include a detailed description of the significant property that each of you owns and the significant debts that each of you owes.

This is often the most exhausting part of preparing a prenuptial agreement, because it requires so much data gathering from both of you. If you and your intended are contemplating a prenuptial agreement, you can save yourself some time and money down the road if you begin gathering that information now so that it's ready when you start negotiating. Expect some tension. In one sense, the negotiation of a prenuptial agreement allows each of you to see the other at their worst, when you're arguing about money. If you have disagreements, that's okay.

If you don't disagree, well, if you don't, that may bode well for your future marriage. Another option: If you and your new spouse-to-be really aren't going to do the prenuptial thing, there are some practical steps both of you can take to control the way your property, debts, income and expenses merge.

First, prepare a thorough inventory of everything you own and everything you owe as of your wedding day. You can do this without even sharing it with your spouse. But if the two of you can cooperate, you could each prepare an inventory and then sign a document indicating that you've each shared this information with your spouse Second, to the extent that you want property you acquired before your marriage to remain separate, treat it that way. Don't use it for the benefit of the marriage. If you sell or liquidate any of it, make sure you deposit the proceeds in a separate account in your name only and that you don't use the proceeds for the benefit of the marriage.

If you already know that you're going to use some of your separate property for the benefit of the marriage, go ahead and pull out that much cash and deposit it into an account you can both draw out of, leaving the remainder of the separate property in the original account and preserving its separateness. As your marriage continues, you may be tempted to tap into your separate property account for expenses of the marriage, like a down payment on a house or an investment in a business. Just realize that every time you tap your separate property for a marital purpose, you make it look more like marital property.