Q&A: Ketubah, Financial Agreement, Prenuptial Agreement
Ketubah, Financial Agreement, Prenuptial Agreement
Question
Hello,
I would like to ask several questions regarding the wording of the ketubah and prenuptial agreements.
The ketubah establishes the marital bond from a legal standpoint, its halakhic validity, the application of kiddushin, and the couple’s contract of halakhic and legal commitment. In light of this, the traditional ketubah deals with only one side, the man.
Are you aware of a ketubah that is based both on the assumptions of Jewish law — the ketubah amount, the mohar, mutual obligations as instituted by the Sages — and also on principles according to which division of property is determined by state law, and that includes an obligation on the wife’s side toward the husband, an emphasis on mutual obligation, and also prenuptial agreements? The wording of the ketubah does not match the reality in which we live.
Also, do you recommend signing the Tzohar prenuptial agreement?
Thank you very much
Answer
I am not aware of such a ketubah text. I definitely recommend signing.
Discussion on Answer
I think so. There is a binding requirement in Jewish law for a ketubah. As long as you have no other option, it is proper to write what exists. There is nothing wrong with it, aside from the fact that not everything is relevant. The principles of property division are binding by force of the law, so it makes no difference whether you signed a different ketubah.
That is what I did in the weddings I officiated at.
I don’t know whether my first response went through.
In any case,
1. Should one just swallow the bitter pill, so to speak, and sign a “regular” ketubah? To think both this and that?
2. How did you conduct things in the private weddings that you officiated at?
3. How can one sign such a document? Should one conclude from this that the document is not relevant to my life and still sign such a document anyway?