11 Benefits Of Premarital Counseling

7. Finances past, present and future need to be reviewed. You each bring your financial history to the marriage.  Budgets, savings and spending patterns are good things to have in place before the marriage.  Ongoing financial discord can actually destroy a relationship. —Celeste Benskey

8. Communication is a cornerstone for a healthy relationship. Establish guidelines to handle conflicts. Understand the way you each receive and process information. Implementing the art of good listening will bring strength to the marriage. —Celeste Benskey

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9. Reduce risk of divorce. A 2006 study by Markham, Stanley and Amato, noted couples who had pre-marital counseling were 31% less likely to get divorced. This takes the divorce rate from around 50% to less than 20%. Having worked with hundreds of pre-married couples (Perspectives & Reflections/Marriage in the Raw) we have seen this to be true. How good it is to realize that your marriage has an 80% chance of success? —Daniel Faust

10. Increase marital satisfaction. Premarital counseling helps couples identify and communicate about their fears, desires, beliefs, values, dreams, needs and other issues and baggage that most avoid or deny. Pre-marital counseling empowers couples to discuss marriage stressors before they cause harm to the relationship. This gives a marriage stability, cohesiveness and trust when the difficult times of 24/7 married life sets in. —Daniel Faust

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11. Learn valuable communication & conflict resolution skills. Opposites attract then opposites attack. Often, we site finances and adultery as the primary reasons for divorce when actually, poor communication and a lack of conflict resolution skills cause these problems. —Daniel Faust