Lawyer Listings Add, Update, or Remove Listings

Prenuptial Agreement

A contract made before marriage about property and support - enforceable in every state, and set aside more often than most people expect.

Informational only - this is not legal advice. These definitions explain general legal vocabulary in plain English. They are not advice about your situation, reading them creates no attorney-client relationship, and the law differs from state to state and changes over time. For advice you can rely on, speak to a lawyer licensed in your state.

Looking for a lawyer rather than a definition? Skip to the state-by-state list of law firms for this.

What it means

A prenuptial agreement, or premarital agreement, is a contract signed before marriage that sets out what will happen to property, debts and in most states spousal support if the marriage ends. A comparable agreement made after the wedding is a postnuptial agreement, and is generally held to a stricter standard because the parties are already married and no longer free to decline.

Such agreements are enforceable in every state, subject to conditions that vary and that are where the real content lies. Common requirements are that the agreement is in writing and signed; that it was entered into voluntarily, without duress; and that each party made a fair and reasonable disclosure of their property and obligations, or expressly and knowingly waived that disclosure. Many states additionally decline to enforce an agreement that was unconscionable when made, and some also examine whether it has become unconscionable by the time it is enforced.

Certain terms are outside what an agreement can do. Child support and custody cannot be fixed in advance in a way that binds a court, because those belong to the child rather than to the parents and are decided on the circumstances at the time. Terms purporting to regulate personal conduct within the marriage are generally unenforceable, and a provision that would leave a spouse dependent on public assistance may be set aside or limited even where the rest of the agreement stands.

Most agreements that fail do so on process rather than content. Signing shortly before a wedding, incomplete disclosure of assets, and one lawyer effectively acting for both are the recurring themes, and they are avoidable. Independent representation is not required in most states, but its absence is a factor courts weigh, and it is the cheapest available protection against the agreement being worth nothing at the only moment it matters.

Where this comes from

Premarital agreements are governed by state law. A majority of states have enacted the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act of 1983, which requires the agreement to be in writing and signed and makes it unenforceable where it was not executed voluntarily or was unconscionable when executed and there was no fair and reasonable disclosure or an express written waiver of it; the Act also provides that any modification of a right to child support is unenforceable. A smaller number of states have adopted the later Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act of 2012, which extends comparable rules to postnuptial agreements and adds an access-to-independent-counsel requirement. The remaining states apply their own statutes and case law, and several impose materially stricter requirements than either uniform act. Whether spousal support may be waived at all, and how postnuptial agreements are treated, differ by state. Any period between signing and the wedding that a state requires or treats as significant is fixed by that state's law and none is stated here.

When people hire a lawyer for this

This is an area where the value of a lawyer is measured by whether the document survives, and where doing it cheaply is the most reliable way to end up with nothing. Advice is worth taking where either party owns a business, a professional practice, an interest in a family company, or property that others also own; where there are children from an earlier relationship whose inheritance is meant to be protected; where the parties are likely to live in more than one state or one is not a US citizen, since which state's law applies is itself a term worth drafting; where substantial debt is being brought in; and in every case where an agreement is being presented close to the wedding, which is the single most common reason these agreements are later set aside. Each party having their own lawyer is not a sign of distrust in this context - it is the main thing that makes the document enforceable.

Worried about the cost? A lawyer can be hired for one part of a case only (limited-scope representation), may be paid from what a claim recovers (contingency fee), or may be free through a pro bono program or legal aid; a court can also waive its own filing fees.

Find a lawyer for this in your state

Choose your state to see law firms for this in the city where we list the most; your city may be under “other cities”, A to Z.

Alabama (Montgomery)
+1 other city
- Birmingham
Alaska (Anchorage)
Arizona (Chandler)
+6 other cities
Arkansas (Little Rock)
California (Chula Vista)
+19 other cities
- Anaheim
- Bakersfield
- Fontana
- Fremont
- Irvine
- Long Beach
- Los Angeles
- Oakland
- Oxnard
- Sacramento
- San Diego
- Santa Ana
- and 7 more with fewer listed firms
Colorado (Colorado Springs)
+2 other cities
- Aurora
- Denver
Connecticut (Bridgeport)
Delaware (Wilmington)
District of Columbia (Washington)
Florida (Orlando)
+5 other cities
Georgia (Atlanta)
Hawaii (Honolulu)
Idaho (Boise)
Illinois (Chicago)
Indiana (Indianapolis)
+1 other city
- Fort Wayne
Iowa (Des Moines)
Kansas (Kansas City)
+1 other city
- Wichita
Kentucky (Lexington)
+1 other city
- Louisville
Louisiana (Baton Rouge)
+2 other cities
- New Orleans
- Shreveport
Maine (Portland)
Maryland (Baltimore)
Massachusetts (Boston)
Michigan (Detroit)
Minnesota (Minneapolis)
+1 other city
- Saint Paul
Mississippi (Jackson)
Missouri (St. Louis)
+1 other city
- Kansas City
Montana (Billings)
Nebraska (Lincoln)
+1 other city
- Omaha
Nevada (Henderson)
+3 other cities
New Hampshire (Manchester)
New Jersey (Newark)
+1 other city
- Jersey City
New Mexico (Albuquerque)
New York (New York City)
+2 other cities
- Buffalo
- Rochester
North Carolina (Greensboro)
+5 other cities
North Dakota (Fargo)
Ohio (Cincinnati)
+3 other cities
Oklahoma (Tulsa)
+1 other city
- Oklahoma City
Oregon (Portland)
Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)
+1 other city
- Pittsburgh
Rhode Island (Providence)
South Carolina (Columbia)
South Dakota (Sioux Falls)
Tennessee (Nashville)
+1 other city
- Memphis
Texas (Houston)
+12 other cities
Utah (Salt Lake City)
Vermont (Burlington)
Virginia (Chesapeake)
+3 other cities
Washington (Spokane)
+2 other cities
- Seattle
- Tacoma
West Virginia (Charleston)
Wisconsin (Madison)
+1 other city
- Milwaukee
Wyoming (Cheyenne)

Related terms

Other entries in the same area of law, each written from the same primary sources.

AdoptionThe court order that makes a child legally the son or daughter of someone other than the birth parents - the kinds of adoption, whose consent is required, how the birth parents' rights end, the home study and the hearing, and what the order changes about inheritance, records and the child's name.
Annulment (Void and Voidable Marriage)A court judgment declaring that a marriage was never valid, as distinct from a divorce that ends a valid one - the difference between a void and a voidable marriage, the grounds each state recognizes, who may bring the case, and what an annulment does to property, support and children.
Child SupportMoney one parent pays the other toward a child's living costs, set in most cases by a state formula rather than by negotiation.
Common-Law MarriageA marriage formed without a license or ceremony by living together as spouses and holding yourselves out as married - which states still allow it, what has to be proved, why every state recognizes one validly formed elsewhere, and what it means for property, support and inheritance when the relationship ends.
Dividing Retirement Accounts in Divorce (QDRO)How pensions, 401(k) plans and IRAs are divided at divorce without tax or penalty - what a qualified domestic relations order is and why a divorce decree alone is not enough, the difference between a defined-benefit and a defined-contribution split, the plans that need a different order, and the mistakes that cost a former spouse the share the decree awarded.
Establishing PaternityThe legal step that makes a man a child's father in law - and signing the hospital form is one of two routes, not a formality.
Grandparent and Third-Party VisitationWhen a court can order that a child spend time with a grandparent, step-parent or other non-parent over a parent's objection - the constitutional limit set by the Supreme Court, the circumstances in which state statutes allow a petition, the special weight a fit parent's decision receives, and what a petitioner must prove.
Grounds for DivorceThe legal basis a divorce is granted on - and in every state today at least one basis requires proving no wrongdoing by anyone.
Guardian ad Litem and Custody EvaluatorThe two neutrals a court most often appoints in a contested custody case - what a guardian ad litem does and does not do, how it differs from a child's attorney and from a custody evaluator, who pays, what they may see, and how their reports are used at trial.
Guardianship of a MinorA court order giving an adult who is not the parent legal authority over a child's care, or over the child's property, without ending the parents' rights - how it differs from custody and adoption, who can be appointed, what the parents keep, and how it ends.
Legal and Physical CustodyTwo different things the word "custody" covers: who makes major decisions for a child, and where the child lives.
Legal SeparationA court status in which spouses live apart with binding orders on support, property and children, while remaining married.
Marital Property DivisionHow a court splits what a couple owns - and "equitable" means fair in that state's judgment, which is not the same as half.
Modifying a Custody or Support OrderChanging an existing family court order - which usually requires proving something has changed, and never happens by the parents' agreement alone.
Parenting Plan and VisitationThe written schedule and decision-making rules for a child after separation - and the document courts increasingly require rather than invite.
Protective Order (Restraining Order)A court order telling one person to stop contacting or coming near another - enforceable by police, and valid across state lines.
Relocating With a ChildMoving a child away from the other parent - the family law dispute most likely to require the court's permission before the move, not after.
Spousal Support (Alimony)Payments from one former spouse to the other - discretionary in most states, and taxed differently for instruments made after 2018.
Termination of Parental RightsThe court order that permanently ends the legal relationship between a parent and child - the grounds a state must prove, the heightened standard of proof and right to counsel, the difference between voluntary relinquishment and an involuntary petition, and what the order does and does not end.

« All glossary terms

Part of the LawyerLand plain-English legal glossary. Definitions are written from primary sources - statutes and court rules - and each entry states the authority it rests on, or says plainly when the doctrine is state law with no national rule.

If you cannot afford a lawyer, civil legal aid programs provide free help with many of these problems: civil legal aid programs by state.

Related free reference tools: statute of limitations for a personal-injury claim, by state, quoted from each state's official text - part of LawyerLand's legal reference tools.