Why Martha Karua wants young couples to sign prenups

Senior Counsel Martha Karua is urging young couples to embrace the culture of signing prenuptial agreements or having joint names when acquiring property.
In Kenya, prenuptial agreements remain a foreign concept as the majority of married couples do not have such a contract.
However, according to the veteran lawyer who was a family advocate during the early days of her legal career, is now urging the young generation to embrace the culture of signing prenups before getting married or at least having properties under joint names.
Prenup, or a prenuptial agreement, is a legally binding contract signed by a couple before marriage that outlines how assets, debts, and spousal support will be handled in the event of divorce or the death of one partner. The prenup is always designed to protect each party’s financial interests in the event of anything going wrong.
“I think people should have prenups to avoid a tussle should there be a need. In Kenya, we’ve had to fight so hard to even get the recognition that women deserve a share. Those days, you would get married and the salary would be controlled by the husband. If they buy property, it is put in the husband’s name, very few were put in jointly. I used to be a family lawyer and I know as a matter of fact that my mother’s age mates and even my age mates, most of the things will be in the man’s name, not even in jointly,” said Ms. Karua on Financial Incorrect podcast.
She went on to say that the couple shouldn’t both be earning to have a prenup or joint name.
“If you’re a stay-at-home mom and you’re raising the kids, you’re making a home for both of you and the children, so you’re proving indirect and direct. So prenups save you all that.” She added.
Ms. Karua insists that signing a prenup doesn’t mean you love each other any less, but it is a precaution.
“It doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t mean I love you less. No. It’s just preparing (for any eventuality), and if not, agreeing that everything you acquire will be joint names. If you don’t have a prenup, please acquire (property) in joint names, always. It’s not that you don’t trust each other, imagine if one of you dies before the other, other people, relatives, may come to claim.
So just put it in joint names,” she advised.

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