An article published recently in USA Today reports that prenuptial agreements are more acceptable today to couples who are engaged than at any time in the past.

Nearly one-third of single adults say they would ask a significant other to sign a prenup, according to a February survey of 2,323 adults by Harris Interactive.

 Only 3% of folks with a spouse or fiancée have a prenuptial agreement, but that’s up significantly from the 1% reported when Harris conducted a similar study in April 2002.

Personal-finance expert Suze Orman encourages every engaged couple to get one to protect their current and future assets as well as to shield themselves in case a mate secretly runs up massive credit card debt (which could damage both partners’ credit scores).

 More than one-third of adults — 36% — said prenups make smart financial sense, according to the Harris survey. When Harris asked that same question in 2002, 28% said so.

“People are hopeful,” Orman says. “They want their relationship to last. … It’s just natural that they don’t think they’ll need a prenup. Never in a million years do they think (divorce) will happen.”

 In 2008, the divorce rate was about 50%. Among married Americans, the median duration of their wedded life in 2008 was 18 years, according to Pew Research Center’s analysis of government data.

Given those odds, “Hope is not a financial plan,” says Orman, who urges that every couple get a prenup. “The time to plan for a divorce is not when you’re in a state of hate,” she says.

Among the divorced, 15% say they regret not having a prenup in their most recent marriage, according to the Harris poll. Men are more likely than women to have this regret, at 19% vs. 12%. Nearly 40% of divorced Americans also say they would ask their significant other to sign a prenuptial agreement if they remarried.

Prenuptial agreements make sense for lots of reasons, especially for people who have family businesses, children from a prior relationship, or substantial personal savings or retirement savings. See my previous post:

 ”Once You Pop the Question, How do You Spring the Prenup?“