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Published on: 2/11/2003
Last Visited: 2/13/2003
This Dallas couple - Dr. Carolyn Ashworth and Barney Auton - each had children and assets acquired in previous marriages, so they signed a prenuptial agreement to insure fairness in case of death or divorce.
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Dr. Carolyn Ashworth and husband Barney Auton have the utmost confidence in their love and commitment to each other.
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from previous marriages," said Ashworth, a Dallas pediatrician."They are adult children, and we felt we had an obligation to provide them with some benefits of the previous marriage and make sure that everybody was handled in a fair way."
A prenuptial agreement is a private agreement between two people contemplating marriage.A couple generally settles in advance financial matters in the event of death or divorce.Lifestyle or nonfinancial topics also may be covered.
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For Ashworth and Auton, drawing up a prenuptial agreement is an acknowledgment that although they love each other, they also realize that there are no guarantees.
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"Your judgment is very clouded when you're in love and you're getting married and everything is so wonderful," Ashworth said.
The prenuptial agreement brings a "practicality and realism to what is a real idealistic kind of state," she said.
"You want to count on everything (lasting) forever, but there are things that happen and change, and you can't count on all that," Ashworth said.
She also sees her premarital agreement as demonstrating that her marriage is about much more than money, because it lays out how the couple's finances will be handled and distributed.
"Barney wanted me to know that it's not about money, and it has nothing to do with that," Ashworth said."It really is kind of a nice declaration that, "I'm in it for you and I don't care about your stuff.' "