Never ever, ever never buy from one of the Mall type chain stores. Ever. Find a local jeweler where you live. You will pay far to much for the ring from a Mall type chain. Search out on the Internet to obtain an idea of how much the diamond should cost. Know what you are buying and learn the 4 C's of diamonds. Cut, Clarity, Carat and Color, these are the items that determine a diamonds value. it is not only carat as many sadly beleive.
More importantly, be sure you are making the right choice, in the person you are marrying.
And now to piss off a bunch of people, but reality, never ever, get married, or I would say even engagded without a pre-nup. Plan for the end while you are still friends. Before everyone makes a comment about how bad that is, and that marriage is not about the money, the reality is they are right, so get a pre-nup and take the money off the table. Does not matter what you have now, what matters is what you may or may not have later. If someone is coletely upset about the prenup, then that tells you that they are more concenred abotu the money then the person.
I understand what you're saying about the prenup, but for many people it's really not important. For example, when both partners are getting married with little or no assets, or people who live in states where nearly all the terms of a divorce are dictated by law.
I didn't get one when I got married, for both of those reasons. Neither of us really had any assets going into the marriage, and it wouldn't have mattered if we did anyways, because California state law overrides prenuptial agreements in nearly all cases. For example, my prenup could say I get the entire house in the event of a divorce, but if state law says she's entitled to half, then she gets half, regardless of what the prenup says. Generally, in CA, assets which are acquired after the marriage are required to be split 50/50, while assets owned prior to marriage belong ot the original owner - regardless of what any prenup says. And of course, a prenuptial agreement regarding child custody and such things like that are virtually never enforcable during divorce proceedings.
Ultimately, I did get divorced, and can conclusively say that a prenup would not have made any difference for me whatsoever.
That said - if one or both partners are going into the marriage with existing assets (especially if it involves business ownership), and/or they live in a state where a prenup actually has legal weight, then sure it's a good idea.
But for your average young couple (they rent an apartment but might buy a house together someday, they both hold normal 9-5 jobs, they live in a state where law dictates how assets get divided in a divorce), the only thing a prenup is likely to do is hurt someone's feelings.
Total Loan Balance: $43k / $65k
Total SL: $78kNot sure where your info comes from on the validity of a Pre-Nup in California, however, Pre-Nup are absoltuely enforceable, and valid in California. There are certain items which if in a Pre-Nup would not need to be followed, such as child custody, and child support, however, most other economic items listed in a pre-nup would be upheld. I would add a caveat that this is provided the agreement meets all requiremetns, which include but not limited to each party having their own attorney review the doc, and time issue for review and signing prior to a marriage date.
But this is a Credit group, not a marriage / relationship group, so this is well beyond what most on here come to see.