The Wise Inheritor's Guide to Freedom from Wealth by Charles A. Lowenhaupt

Author:Charles A. Lowenhaupt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABC-CLIO

CHAPTER SIX

Helping Love Conquer All

Thirty years ago, a client of some wealth called us to say that his 22-year-old daughter was engaged to be married to the 30-year-old heir to a huge family fortune. Her father and mother were thrilled that she was to be happily married. As they began busily planning the wedding, the daughter explained that a “condition” of the marriage would be a prenuptial agreement. Her father said that would be fine, but he wanted his lawyers to review the agreement before she signed it.

The father and daughter came to our office with the draft of the agreement, which was short and simple. The agreement itself opened with the following clause: “Whereas, groom is from the wealthiest family in America and bride is from a modest background …” It then stated that with respect to a divorce or the death of the husband, the bride waived all rights she might have to any financial benefit whatsoever. The rest of the agreement reiterated that the groom’s family wealth would be untouchable, and that was that.

My father explained to the father and daughter that the law in Missouri and most other states required that any prenuptial agreement required full disclosure of all assets of each party and a reasonably fair provision for the spouses. The agreement presented contained no details of the groom’s assets other than that he was “from the wealthiest family in America.” My father believed that the agreement was overbearing in its terms, and he decided to telephone the groom’s family attorney to discuss. The attorney, the family “expert” in these matters and a member of one of New York’s largest law firms, was quick to tell my father that the agreement was the “standard family form.” He said it could not be modified under any circumstances and the bride could “take it or leave it.”

When we reconvened with the bride and her father, we learned that the groom had called the bride and explained that the “family” was unhappy that we had telephoned, and unless the bride signed the agreement as presented, the “family” would not allow the groom to marry her. With tears streaming down her face, the bride said she would sign anything to marry him. “Don’t worry, Daddy. It will be fine,” she assured her father. Together, they concluded that she should sign the document, and my father and I took some comfort thinking that in the event of a divorce, we could challenge the enforceability of the agreement.

Thirty years later, that bride and groom are still married. They have three children, all of whom share in the benefits of the family wealth as genuine members of “the wealthiest family in America.” Over the years, the groom has given the bride her own farms and horses, jewelry worth tens of millions of dollars, her own stock and bond portfolio of $100 million dollars, a life of luxury and, most importantly … great happiness! When I last saw the bride, several years ago,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.