This article is from the U.C. Davis FAQ, by David F. Prenatt, Jr. netesq@dcn.davis.ca.us with numerous contributions by others.
While I won't give you any legal advice, my personal advice is that
you sit down with your future spouse and write down what obligations
you intend to assume for each other (legal and otherwise) once you are
married. Start with the default obligations that are part of every
marriage contract and continue from there. If one of the terms of
your marriage contract presents a problem, then you should resolve
that problem as best you can before tying the knot. While you can't
work out all of your problems before you get married, you can work out
some of them, and you might save yourself a fortune in future
attorneys fees.
 
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