New Yorkers Laura Jackson and Gary Zaremba met on a dating website in 2005. Two years later, Mr. Zaremba, a 52-year-old real-estate developer, popped the question. Ms. Jackson accepted.

Then he popped another: 'Will you sign a prenuptial agreement?'

He had been through a divorce, had a college-age son and several real-estate investments. She, a publicist and also 52, had never married.

'When he first mentioned it,' Ms. Jackson, now Ms. Jackson-Zaremba, says, 'I thought, 'Oh, my God.' It definitely took a little bit of the romance out.'

Baby boomers looking to protect their assets are increasingly turning to prenuptial agreements -- legal contracts drawn up before a marriage that dictate what happens to assets in the event a couple should part ways, either by divorce or death.

'They used to be for the rich and famous,' says Marlene Eskind Moses, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and a lawyer in Nashville, Tenn. 'It's become more commonplace in the market as an estate-planning opportunity for boomers.'

Even before the financialcrisis hit, prenuptial agreements were on the rise: Some 80% of matrimonial lawyers said they had seen an increase in couples signing them in recent years, according to a 2006 survey sponsored by the matrimonial lawyers group.

The financialcrisis -- which hit boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, especially hard -- accelerated the trend. Many of them, just on the cusp of retirement, saw their investment portfolios pounded, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 53% from Oct. 9, 2007, to March 6, 2009. Home values, which represented significant chunks of boomer net worth, were down almost 31% as of March 31 from their peak in mid-2006, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller national index.

As a result, boomers have become more anxious to hold on to whatever they have left, says Gabriel Cheong, a divorceattorney with Infinity Law Group LLC in Quincy, Mass. Today, the majority of inquiries come from boomers 'concerned about protecting their assets,' he says. 'Not just with the markets, but with protecting their spouses and children.' And they often enter a marriage with substantial assets -- and children from an earlier union.

Baby boomers are more likely to get married multiple times than younger or older couples because they also are more likely to have gottendivorced. Almost 40% of boomers who have been married have gone through at least one divorce, according to 2004 Census data, the most recent available, while only about 30% of all people who have been married have been divorced. By their 50th birthday, 27% of boomers have moved on to their second or third marriage.

None of this, of course, makes discussing a prenup with one's betrothed any easier. Ms. Jackson-Zaremba and Mr. Zaremba 'put the elephant on the table,' he says, and disclosed everything to each other before their lawyers drafted the agreement. Though his net worth was significantly higher than hers, she had retirement savings and an annual salary she wanted to keep separate. He owned a string of properties in several states and several lighthouses he was in the process of restoring that he, too, wanted to keep separate.

Under the terms of the prenup, one investment property on Long Island's North Fork that the couple purchased would be owned 75% by Mr. Zaremba and 25% by Ms. Jackson-Zaremba. A second property on Long Island would have the same split, but after five years ownership would change to 50-50.

Assets filed on a joint tax return wouldn't be considered joint assets, the agreement states, and Mr. Zaremba's name would be added to the lease on Ms. Jackson-Zaremba's New York apartment. Neither party would take on each other's debts. Ms. Jackson-Zaremba also would receive a life-insurance policy, a provision added in the drafting.

'The prenup changed me,' she says. 'I became more assertive.' Most of all, she finds it much easier, both professionally and personally, to discuss money.

Lawyers usually recommend that couples with substantial assets -- or those who expect to inherit such assets later on -- consider a prenup. Without one, they are at the mercy of a smorgasbord of state laws in the event of a divorce or death. In 'community property' states, such as California, marital assets are typically split 50-50. In 'equitable distribution' states, judges generally look at what is 'fair,' so all marital property is considered before it is divided.

Such uncertainty has helped prenups gain favor as estate-planning tools. Yet they are anything but simple to execute, and prospective couples need to make sure they avoid some common traps.

Mary Pilon

• divorce [di´vɔ:s] n.离婚 vt.同....离婚 (初中英语单词)
• definitely [´definitli] ad.明确地；绝对 (初中英语单词)
• romance [rəu´mæns] n.中世纪骑士小说 (初中英语单词)
• academy [ə´kædəmi] n.专科学校；学会；协会 (初中英语单词)
• lawyer [´lɔ:jə] n.律师；法学家 (初中英语单词)
• financial [fi´nænʃəl] a.金融的，财政的 (初中英语单词)
• survey [´sə:vei] vt.&n.俯瞰；审视；测量 (初中英语单词)
• investment [in´vestmənt] n.投资；(时间等)投入 (初中英语单词)
• industrial [in´dʌstriəl] a.工业的，产业的 (初中英语单词)
• anxious [´æŋkʃəs] a.担忧的；渴望的 (初中英语单词)
• whatever [wɔt´evə] pron.&a.无论什么 (初中英语单词)
• attorney [ə´tə:ni] n.代理人；律师 (初中英语单词)
• available [ə´veiləbəl] a.可用的；有效的 (初中英语单词)
• elephant [´elifənt] n.象 (初中英语单词)
• agreement [ə´gri:mənt] n.同意；一致；协议 (初中英语单词)
• annual [´ænjuəl] a.每年的 n.年刊 (初中英语单词)
• apartment [ə´pɑ:tmənt] n.一套房间 (初中英语单词)
• provision [prə´viʒən] n.供应；规定；条款 (初中英语单词)
• recommend [,rekə´mend] vt.推荐；使受欢迎 (初中英语单词)
• california [,kæli´fɔ:njə] n.加利福尼亚 (初中英语单词)
• execute [´eksikju:t] vt.执行；表演；演奏 (初中英语单词)
• dictate [dik´teit] v.口授；指示，命令 (高中英语单词)
• crisis [´kraisis] n.转折点；危机 (高中英语单词)
• significant [sig´nifikənt] a.重要的；意义重大的 (高中英语单词)
• substantial [səb´stænʃəl] a.实质的，真的 (高中英语单词)
• personally [´pə:sənəli] ad.亲自；就个人来说 (高中英语单词)
• inherit [in´herit] v.继承；遗传 (高中英语单词)
• increasingly [in´kri:siŋli] ad.日益，愈加 (英语四级单词)
• commonplace [´kɔmənpleis] a.平凡的；常见的 (英语四级单词)
• retirement [ri´taiəmənt] n.退休；撤退；幽静处 (英语四级单词)
• gotten [´gɔtn] get的过去分词 (英语四级单词)
• census [´sensəs] n.人口普查 (英语四级单词)
• ownership [´əunəʃip] n.所有权；所有制 (英语四级单词)
• policy [´pɔlisi] n.政策；权谋；保险单 (英语四级单词)
• uncertainty [ʌn´sə:tənti] n.不可靠；不确定的事 (英语四级单词)
• prospective [prə´spektiv] a.预期的；未来的 (英语四级单词)