What You Should Discuss with Your Fiancé to Prepare for a Happy Marriage
When you first get engaged, you will be over-the-moon excited to spend the rest of your live with someone you love. Celebrating your engagement will, of course, be your first priority. Next, you will likely want to discuss your wedding plans. When you are planning your wedding, it can be exciting time to discuss details of the event. However, you should not forget about discussing important details about your future together. A marriage will require both of you to be on the same page about your family plans, lifestyle, and many other aspects of your life. As a divorce attorney in Orlando, we help many couples through a divorce that always remind us how important certain conversations are important to have before you say "I do." There are a few important conversations you should have before you get married.
Discuss Family Planning
Before you get married, you want to be sure that your family goals align with your partner's. If this doesn't happen, one of you may end up resenting the other for either having children or not having children. Creating a family can also be a deal breaker for some people, and having these conversations first will avoid a difficult divorce. If you are both interested in having kids, it would also be beneficial to discuss your child-rearing philosophies to ensure that you will avoid conflict as much as possible when you are in the midst of raising your kids together.
Be Open about Your Expectations of Privacy
When you share your life with another individual, you will want to share similar expectations of everyday life. From understanding what level of privacy they need to establishing boundaries that make each of you comfortable, you want to be on the same page. Everyone expects a different level of privacy in their homes in order to be fully comfortable. When you are struggling to be comfortable in your own home, you may develop issues in your relationship.
Come Up with a Financial Strategy
When you are in a marriage, you will be sharing homes, bills, cars, and other financial responsibilities with your spouse. By having conversations about how you both handle your finances before you get married, you avoid placing a financial strain on your relationship. To avoid fights over money, you may want to establish a system that works to stay on budget as a couple.
Have an Idea of Where You Want to Live
Location is also a big deal for many couples. Whether you live together before you are married or not, you will want to discuss where you see your future. Talk about locations of where you've always envisioned yourself living, and make sure that your future spouse has similar ideas. Whenever you drastically differ in where you want to live, you can end up having many conflicts or harboring resentment over the location that you've chosen. Be on the same page about the location of your future home before you even get married.
Organize Your Household Chores
When you are engaged to someone else, you may not have lived with one another quite yet. This could leave you surprised when you realize the way that someone else handles their household chores. Take some time to talk about how you handle the responsibilities of cleaning and caring for a home. Dividing up chores is critical in making sure that you have a balance in your responsibilities.
Discuss Family
In-laws should also be discussed before you even get married. When you are married, you are joining into an entirely new family, whether you like it or not. Although you do not have to like your in-laws, you should have conversations about the time you'll be spending with extended family when you get married. Talk about how involved you want both of your families to be in your lives. Will they have a spare key to your place? Will they be better kept at a distance and seen during holidays? The level of privacy that each of you needs from your family may be different, and you'll want to reach a compromise that keeps both of you comfortable.
Talk about Your Personal Goals
Are you anxious to raise children because of your career aspirations? Do you want to take a break from your career to raise your children? When it comes to personal goals, you want to be as honest as possible about your future. Discuss your personal goals, including both family and career, with your partner so that you make sure that you have the right mentality. Be up front about where you expect to be in five or ten years. If your partner has a drastically different answer, you will want to work on compromising before you even walk down the aisle.
Discuss How to Deal with Change
Life is full of change. It's actually the only thing that stays consistent. Discuss the ways that you both cope with change to make sure that you both have the same viewpoints on new opportunities. If you are looking to move in a few years, you'll want your partner to be on board. These changes can throw your future spouse for a loop if they are not fully discussed beforehand, so be sure to bring up how you both plan to cope with changes you will encounter in your life.
These are just a few of the important conversations that you will want to have as you prepare to spend a lifetime together. To avoid divorce, it is best to be transparent and honest about your expectations for your future. If you've failed to have these conversations, you may find yourself facing complicated decisions. Contact our quality divorce attorney in Orlando to schedule your consultation and get the right advice today.