The Pre-Prenup and your Relationship.

Forget prenups, 2012 is the year of the pre-prenup!

That's a document for unmarried couples that's similar to a prenup...But instead of divvying up financial assets in case of divorce...like cars and houses...in a pre-prenup, each person spells out their relationship "wishlists." For example, date night once a week...Or alternating laundry duty.

It may sound silly, but a growing number of couples are scribbling pre-prenups in notebooks...And others are having lawyers put it in writing.

In fact, experts say that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg allegedly had a pre-prenup while dating his now-wife that stipulated 100 minutes of together time a week - and not at the Facebook office.

So, are pre-prenups a good idea, or a waste of time? Family therapist Kelly Roberts says that they're the perfect opportunity for each person to specifically state exactly what they need in a relationship to feel happy and fulfilled. Also, the process forces couples to talk about how they'll handle sensitive issues in the future.

For example, one unmarried, twentysomething couple wrote a pre-prenup that stated that one partner would work to support the other while they went to grad school...Then they'd switch roles.

And even though legal experts say that – unlike prenups - pre-prenups probably won't stand up in court...They're a smart move because they force both people to get on the same page – literally.

My wife Connie and I created something like this 21 years ago. We outlined things like how much money we can spend without approval from each other etc. We also have contracts with our kids with rules/expectations and rewards/punishments they helped design. I'm here to tell you the pre-pre nup and the kid-nup concepts work wonderfully.