The surprising 'prenups' of America's richest couples

Peter Barreras/AP

• A prenuptial agreement (or prenup) is a legal agreement couples enter into before they get married.
• Many involve what will happen to the couple's finances should they divorce.
• However, relationship contracts, whether they be a prenup, postnup, or other agreement, can stipulate more than simply who gets what in case of a breakup.

Successful power couples agree upon important issues from the get go.

And whether it's with a legally-binding prenup, or postnup, or a more flexible relationship agreement, they often put it in writing.

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"Two egos in a marriage can be great if all the important issues are agreed upon up front," Handel Group co-president and life coach Laurie Gerber previously told Business Insider.

While prenups are traditionally thought of as worst-case-scenario financial planning, relationship agreements aren't always all about the money.

Some of the most important issues couples should agree upon early on include sexual and romantic needs, family boundaries, and who pays for what, and putting it into writing can give a marriage a better chance of success.

Most breakups happen because of cheating, Gerber says: "Couples who face the reality of this threat head-on and deal with it stand the most chance of success."

"Don't be afraid to put it all in writing to refer back to as a living breathing document," she says. "And plan to have meetings about how you are running your marriage and family just as you would for your company or any other project you care about profoundly."

Here are some of the less conventional things successful power couples have put into writing: