Safeguard Your Interests as a Pro Athlete with a Strong Prenup

Professional Athletes Need Solid Prenups to Protect their Interests in the Event of Divorce, Given their High Incomes, Unique Risks of Short Careers, and Public Scrutiny.

Professional athletes are well-known for their physical prowess and their high incomes. They are also often well-known for abrupt ends to lucrative careers and very public divorces. The combination of high incomes, abrupt career ends, and public divorces is one reason that we recommend prenuptial agreements to our professional athlete clients. Prenups protect both the athlete and their future spouse in the event of divorce and can provide peace of mind and a sense of stability to both parties if their marriage does come to an end.

The Lives and Careers of Pro Athletes

A professional athlete is one who participates in organized, officiated sporting events to entertain fans. It includes a wide variety of sports, including football, basketball, baseball, soccer, wrestling, figure skating, swimming, and more. Professional athletes tend to exhibit a much higher caliber of skill and natural talent for their sport than the average person and as such, earn a premium salary. They are also often paid this higher salary because, for most professional athletes, a single injury could end their career at any time.

How NJ Prenups Safeguard Pro Athletes’ Finances and Fame

Prenups and professional athletes are an important combination. Professional athletes accumulate large amounts of money and fame, both of which can lead to serious complications in the event of a divorce. A prenup can help protect their wealth and fame while also protecting their spouse.

Professional athletes are paid quite well for their sports performance, but they also receive endorsements, social media ads, business ventures, and other revenue streams that can increase their wealth even more. In the event of a career-ending injury or other reason for retiring earlier than expected, the athlete may have to rely on their savings and investments, plus any endorsements and other streams of income they can find. A prenup can help to ensure that they do not lose a significant chunk of their income to their spouse.

While their talent is what boosts the professional athlete to the professional level, their fame and reputation play a prominent role in keeping them there. Consider the professional athletes who have all but disappeared from the public eye after being accused of domestic violence, driving under the influence or other negative behaviors. In a divorce, a bitter or uncooperative spouse may be tempted to share details about the athlete that would cast the athlete in a negative light. Worse, they may even want to make up stories that are not true to damage the athlete’s reputation. A prenup can go beyond defining how assets are to be distributed and include confidentiality clauses or non-disclosure agreements (NDA).

Unveiling the High Divorce Rates Among NJ Pro Athletes

While the average relationship is at about a 50% risk of divorce, between 60% to 80% of professional athletes’ marriages end in divorce. 87% of NBA players divorce within the first five years of marriage. MLB players divorce at a 60 to 65% divorce rate, and professional wrestlers see a 43% divorce rate.

Interestingly, those rates are all for male professional athletes. When we look at female professional athletes, such as WNBA players and women soccer players, their divorce rate is no higher than 30%.

A Comprehensive Guide to Prenups for Professional Athletes

The average prenup includes a lot of financial agreements, such as specifying asset distribution, alimony, and what property each spouse brought into the marriage. Because of the very public nature of their profession, professional athletes should consider adding additional clauses to their prenup to ensure privacy. Some of the additional clauses for prenups and professional athletes may include terms to keep the agreement confidential, protect your spouse, protect existing children, and set clear expectations.

A confidentiality or non-disclosure (NDA) clause may prevent either spouses from discussing private details of their marriage or possible divorce with the mainstream media, on social media, or with other individuals. This clause could also include agreements such as not sharing photos of the couple’s children publicly or preventing the spouse from making any comments to the media about negative press the athlete may receive.

When the prenup is being written, neither the athlete nor their future spouse can envision a time when they will not be happy and in love. Therefore, this is a good time for them to create a clause that provides protection for the spouse in the event of a divorce. This clause may be a wealth equalization clause, which would require the athlete to provide a lump-sum payment upon divorce to make the wealth more balanced between the two. It may also be a clause that details how much the spouse will receive in alimony or specific assets they will receive, such as a house.

If the athlete has any children from a previous marriage or relationship, they may wish to include a clause that ensures their children’s inheritance is safe in the event of divorce or the athlete’s death.

Finally, most athletes are aware that they are only one injury away from ending their careers, and may want to be clear about their intentions regarding budgeting, saving, and investing to prepare for a time when their career will end, either through injury or retirement.

Multifaceted Finances of Professional Athletes in NJ

Professional athletes are not paid the same way the average person is. They typically have a contract for a set amount of income over a certain number of years. In addition to their contract income, they may receive bonuses. They may also have income from endorsements, merchandise income, exhibits, and other revenue sources. Because their wealth can come from so many different sources, most of which are not guaranteed, it is critical that the athlete go over their potential income sources carefully with their attorney, agent, manager, financial advisor, and others who can help them identify all possible sources and outline what will happen to those sources if the couple divorces, if the athlete is receiving income from those sources.

A Financial Advisor and a Lawyer: The Perfect Pair for an Athlete’s Prenuptial Agreement

When it comes to prenups and professional athletes, a financial advisor can play a significant role. A financial advisor can assist in calculating future earnings, submit tax forms, suggest solid investments to grow the athlete’s income, assist with appraising and calculating the value of jewelry and other assets for inclusion in the prenup, and provide additional information required for the prenup.

Protecting a Professional Athlete’s Privacy with a Prenuptial NDA

Physical skill and trained talent propels a professional athlete into professional sports. Once there, they develop a fanbase that is often both extremely loyal and incredibly demanding. These fans often feel entitled to know every detail of their favorite athlete’s life merely because they follow their professional career. While most athletes are friendly and share some details of their private lives, they also would prefer to keep some details to themselves.

An NDA is necessary in a professional athlete’s prenup because it can prevent the athlete’s spouse from divulging details that the athlete might prefer to remain private. In the context of a prenup, an NDA typically prevents a spouse from sharing details about the agreement itself to any third party. However, it can also apply to aspects of the couple’s life beyond the four corners of the agreement. For example, an NDA may prevent the spouse from disclosing details about their personal life on a podcast or in an interview or blog post, or sharing photos of children they share with the athlete on social media. It might also prevent a spouse from discussing the athlete’s income or career changes that are not yet public knowledge or divulging details about an affair the spouse or the athlete had during the marriage

Finally, the NDA can prevent a spouse from making false claims of infidelity, or other negative actions by the athlete to try to garner public sympathy during a divorce. The athlete and their future spouse can also work with their lawyers to ensure privacy and protected reputations with other specific non-disclosures they would like to include.

Safeguard Your Future and Trust our Attorneys to Create a Solid Prenup for Your Pro Athlete Marriage in Franklin Lakes and Northern New Jersey

Prenups and professional athletes are an important partnership when it comes to marriage. A prenup must be properly written and filed in order to be valid. Additionally, both parties must have ample time before the wedding to read the prenup and consider their options before signing, as well as have the option of legal representation. If these conditions are not met, a judge could invalidate the prenup when it is needed.

A family law attorney at The Montanari Law Group can ensure that a professional athlete’s wealth, reputation, and privacy are protected with a prenup that is legally and clearly drafted, signed after careful consideration, and filed appropriately. If you have questions or concerns about a prenup for a professional athlete in Ridgewood, Franklin Lakes, Alpine, Montclair, Hoboken, Jersey City, Saddle River, Short Hills, or another town in Northern New Jersey, contact our Little Falls office at (913) 233-4396 or fill out our online form to discuss your case with a knowledgeable lawyer who can assist you.