1. Discuss what legal issues you want to put in your agreement

You and your partner need to talk about the issues you want to put into your agreement.

You might not feel comfortable asking your partner to sign a marriage contract. But it is important to sign one if you want to change what the law assumes will happen during your relationship or after it ends.

For example, you might want to your partner to sign an agreement saying that they won’t make a claim to your family business if you separate.

The most common issues covered in these agreements are property division and spousal support.

Usually if you are married and you separate, you have to share property. In your marriage contract, you might say that you don’t want to share property. Or you might want to change how you share it.

Sometimes marriage contracts are signed because one partner:

• is bringing a lot of assets into the relationship that they want to protect if the relationship ends
• has a special type of property that they want to protect, such as a family cottage or family business
• has children from an earlier relationship or other commitments that they want to take care of