Divorce Attorney Jacqueline Newman Tells Groundbreaking Women 2026 Audience Every Marriage Already Has a Prenup

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, October 6, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Prenuptial agreements have moved from the margins of American marriage into the mainstream. A Harris Poll conducted for Axios found that half of U.S. adults at least somewhat support prenups, yet only about one in five married couples has signed one. Among engaged or married respondents, 47 percent of millennials and 41 percent of Gen Z reported entering such an agreement.

Jacqueline Newman, Managing Partner of Berkman Bottger Newman & Schein, LLP and author of The New Rules of Divorce: Twelve Secrets to Protecting Your Wealth, Health, and Happiness, addressed that shift in an onstage conversation at Groundbreaking Women 2026. Speaking on prenups, divorce, and wealth, she said women are now asking for prenups just as much as men, if not more.

“For those that think that, you know, having a prenup is unromantic, the fact is everyone that gets married has a prenuptial agreement,” Newman said. “It’s just a question if the state is going to be dictating what your prenuptial terms are or you’re going to decide them.”

Framing marriage as a business partnership, she distinguished family money prenups, which keep inherited wealth in the bloodline, from new money prenups, which protect wealth built before or during the marriage. Some of the trickiest agreements involve business owners, she cautioned, since New York values business equity and an owner’s income flows directly from the business itself.

“If you can’t have a difficult conversation when you’re in love and in your googly eye stage, you’re not having it when you have a mortgage and two children and, you know, the dog throwing up on the floor,” she said.

Her remarks also covered the rise of gray divorce, in which a financial plan built around a dual income must suddenly support two households, and the pandemic’s effect on custody, as men became far more involved in daily parenting. Newman added that New York maintenance formulas have been trending downward, which makes her wary when women leave the workforce and become financially dependent.

“Stop pretending things aren’t romantic,” Newman said. “Do what you got to do to protect yourself.”

Best Lawyers recognized Newman for 2027 in Family Law, Family Law Mediation, and Collaborative Law: Family Law, and Long Island Business News named her a 2026 Influencer in Law. She also teaches a law school course.

Sources:

Harris Poll conducted for Axios: https://www.axios.com/2023/09/24/prenup-rates-us-marriage

Berkman Bottger Newman & Schein, LLP: https://www.berkbot.com

Media Contact:

Ryan McCormick
Goldman McCormick PR
+1 516-901-1103
ryan@goldmanmccormick.com

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