Are pre-engagement agreements needed?

It is starting to appear that a pre-nuptial agreement is not enough when doing estate planning for a person involved in a long-term relationship.  Instead, it may also be necessary to have a pre-engagement/pre-living together agreement.  If not, problems may arise as happened in the case of Wayne Gibbs and RoseMary Shell.

Here is the situation as described in Bob Considine, Jilted bride calls $150,000 jury award ‘justice’, MSNBC.com, July 25, 2008:

• Wayne and RoseMary starting dating in 2001.
• They were going to get married in 2005 but when they didn’t, RoseMary broke off the relationship and starting dating another man in Pensacola.
• In October 2006, Wayne asked her to move back to Gainesville and proposed marriage with a 2-carat diamond ring.
• RoseMary agreed and they set a wedding date of December 2.
• Later, Wayne told RoseMary that he wanted to postpone the wedding.
• In March 2007, they broke up.
• A few months later, RoseMary decided to sue Wayne for breach of his promise to marry her.
• During the trial, RoseMary testified that the job in Pensacola she gave up paid almost three times the job she took in Gainesville.
• Wayne testified that he made house payments for her and gave her $30,000 to pay off credit card debt.
• Then, Wayne learned that RoseMary was even in greater debt and that was one of the reasons he did not want to marry her.
• The jury awarded RoseMary $150,000 in damages.
• RoseMary has also retained the engagement ring.
• RoseMary did not have to return any of the money Wayne gave her to pay her debts in contemplation of the marriage.
• Hammond Law, Wayne’s attorney, has indicated that Wayne will appeal.

I wonder if Wayne feels it would have been better for him to marry her and then file for divorce the next day.  Then, he would not have breached his promise to marry her.  (There was no evidence that he made a promise to remain married to her for any specific length of time.)  It may have been more economical!

Special thanks to James Korth (Associate, Cantey Hanger, LLP, Fort Worth, Texas) and David S. Luber (Attorney at law, Florida Probate Attorney Wills and Estates Law Firm) for bringing this situation to my attention.