Joining us now is my very good friend,
Ann Margaret Carrozza.
Ann Margaret, how are you? Hello.
(applause)
Ann Margaret is an asset protection attorney
and author of the book Love and Money: Protecting
Yourself From Angry Exes, Wacky Relatives, Con Artists
and Inner Demons.
I actually wrote the forward to this book.
It's available in book stores.
Talk to me about prenups here.
There is a prenup here and
she didn't have her own lawyer.
She waived that voluntarily
and agreed to everything he has, he keeps
and everything she has, she keeps,
and that's take nothing.
What's wrong with this, if anything?
Prenups are valid in every state in the United States,
but there are certain requirements that a prenup
has to have.
I looked over this prenup very carefully.
I read it three times thinking I was missing something,
and prenups can be challenged in every state
in the United States
if they are too tilted
in favor of one party.
This document, Brooke, and I believe that you meant
to show David and possibly Bree
that your motives are pure
and you're not in it for the money,
but because David gets everything
and you get nothing in the event of a dissolution,
this could not be more unbalanced.
It is vulnerable to being set aside by a court
because it's a winner-take-all type of document.
And you were not represented by counsel, Brooke.
I know you signed a waiver of your right,
but the law does not require that you simply be notified
that you have the right to an attorney.
It provides that you must have been represented
by an attorney.
Yeah, and let me say, by the way,
I think she signed this in good faith.
I don't think this was through manipulation at all.
I think she signed it in good faith
to make it clear that she was not in this for the money.
One of the elements that I was seeing loud and clear
in the document, David, is that you want to keep
your business interests separate and protected,
but, Brooke, you should also be looking
for some security.
You're not working, you have two children
that David has no legal responsibility
to take care of your kids,
so you have an opportunity with this document
to provide some security for yourself and the children,
and that may be as simple as a few months' worth
of living expenses,
some money to get yourself on your feet
in the event that the marriage doesn't work out,
perhaps some vocational training at a bare minimum.
David, by giving Brooke some security,
A, I think you're going to make her a happier person.
She doesn't want to have to worry
about every time you have an argument
that her belongings are going to be on the front lawn
and you can change the locks and she has no legal recourse,
so by giving each other security,
you're going to have a document on a firmer foundation.
Given the age difference,
there is a fair chance he's going to pass first.
Statistically, you will predecease Brooke,
and if you feel there is some dissension
between Bree and Brooke right now,
you haven't seen anything yet
because this would be a will war
the likes of which we haven't seen in a while,
so what I want to see you think about
is within a good agreement that you make some
provisions to do a will that says
in the event you predecease Brooke,
she and her kids are able
to stay in the home for a certain amount of time
at the very least.
Otherwise, if it's up to Bree,
I don't know that Brooke would very secure.