Over the years, I have had the privilege of working with many forward-thinking couples on developing contracts that govern how couples will handle money and share assets once married. Clearly in light of the Great Recession, this has become a hot-button topic among couples as evidenced by the surge in prenups this past year. Now, I realize this may not be very romantic, but the harsh truth is that couples cannot ignore money discussions, and it will continually be a work in progress for families to work on a realistic budget, saving for retirement and/or college, and paying down debt. Two people may be in love and yet have completely different views about money. Rather than ignore these differences, they need to talk about them. Unfortunately, many avoid money talks and sometimes naively believe that as long as two people have good incomes, there shouldn't be any problems. In fact, what I've seen is that the more people make, the more they tend to over-extend themselves with expensive homes, cars, etc. Furthermore, those that come from wealthy families have significant external pressure to protect that family wealth, and emotions can run high when legal discussions are involved. Most lawyers are generally trained to detach from emotions, and once our clients share their concerns with us, it is simply our job [...]