They're intended to, but it doesn't always work out that way. They are difficult to write well and must be revised when circumstances change within the marriage. When legally challenged, they can be quite expensive to defend, especially when agenda-driven judges make arbitrary rulings that must then be appealed -- or even when judges make proper judgments which are appealed anyway. Such battles can go on endlessly and at great expense. Therefore, many attorneys advise their clients to back off and relinquish a lot of what is rightfully theirs, even though the law and the facts are on their side.
Bottom line: A pre-nup will only keep honest people honest. If you want protection, marry someone who's not nearly as smart or Machiavellian as you, then get the goods on your prospective spouse and save them up for a legal "rainy day." That means investing in private investigators, steadily amassing your evidence, keeping track of the whereabouts and status of potential future witnesses, and always regarding your life partner as a potential legal adversary who may eventually have to be proven an unfit parent, faithless harridan, etc. Then, of course, the offspring of your union must be relentlessly conditioned to favor you in any testimony they may be called upon to make. This is a lot of work, carried out in secrecy and guaranteed to poison the relationship no matter what happens.
Under such cloak-and-dagger conditions, what would be the point of marrying at all?
Under such cloak-and-dagger conditions, what would be the point of marrying at all?
I agree, what would be the point? Yet, there's enough women doing just what you mention in order to steal the man's assets. That's exactly what is making marriage unattractive. Now I know, there's always been gold diggers, but this practice has reached epidemic proportions and all with the aid of the courts.
Boys, keep your drawers on and don't get married. That's my take on it.