Mulitple Divorces-When Should You Stop Getting Married?

In the news this week is the story of TV Host Larry King announcing he will divorce his 7th wife. Larry has been married seven times. You would think most people would stop getting married after the third or fourth divorce, but they are people, like Larry King, who enjoy getting married so much they keep doing it.

It amazes me that someone could go through that many divorces. One was more than enough for me! I cannot fathom going through a second divorce and that is one of the reasons I am unsure if I will ever remarry. The pain from a divorce is so intense and life altering, the thought of someone repeatedly going through that sounds like torture to me.

Maybe they are just hopeless romantics and really believe each time they walk down the aisle that this time it will be forever. Unfortunately, the odds are stacked against anyone remarrying, with the rates of divorce rising significantly with the second marriage and the odds of staying married being even worse for the third.

I have a friend who is on his third marriage and has been happily married for over twenty years. He was brave enough to give marriage a second and third shot. Sometimes we get in the wrong relationships for the wrong reasons and it may take time to find that "soul mate". But 7 marriages and divorces? I think Larry King may want to consider living together the next time.

Prenups-Why You Must Have One The Second Time Around...

You may be thinking that after getting a divorce the last thing you are thinking about is getting married again. Surprisingly, many divorced people do remarry within two years of getting a divorce. You would think that if you went though a difficult divorce you would be wise enough to insist on a prenup this time around, but love has a way of clouding one's better judgment and many divorcees enter into a second marriage without the financial protection of a prenuptial agreement.

This is especially unwise considering that second marriages have a higher failure rate. If I ever remarried, I would insist on a prenup, even if my new husband made more money and had more assets than me. Why? Because I will never go through a bitter divorce battle again. It was much too painful. A prenup protects your assets and more importantly leaves you will nothing to fight over in the event of a divorce. It is all agreed upon ahead of time.

If you feel that prenups are unromantic and that this time is "forever" because you have met your "soul mate", you need to wake up. Yes, a prenup is not something couples who are in love and planning a wedding feel comfortable discussing, but if you did not learn from your own divorce, learn from other people's divorce disasters.

Paul McCartney was so in love with Heather Mills that he didn't ask her to sign a prenup. He also supposedly turned down her offer to sign one. I bet he deeply regrets that decision now that they are involved in a vicious divorce battle for his billion dollar empire. The sad reality is that had these two signed a prenup, there would be no fight, Heather Mills would not have been vilified by the British press and they might have been able to divorce on friendly terms.

If a second marriage is in your future, make a call to your lawyer and discuss your options. Hopefully you will never need it, but having a prenup gives you the peace of mind knowing that you have protected your assets and your future in the event of a second divorce.