Prenuptial Agreement Law

A prenuptial agreement, antenuptial agreement, or premarital agreement, commonly abbreviated to prenup or prenupt, is a contract entered into prior to marriage, civil union or any other agreement prior to the main agreement by the people intending to marry or contract with each other. The content of a prenuptial agreement can vary widely, but commonly includes provisions for division of property and spousal support in the event of divorce or breakup of marriage. They may also include terms for the forfeiture of assets as a result of divorce on the grounds of adultery, further conditions of guardianship may be included as well.

A prenuptial agreement is a contract between two persons who are planning to marry. Prenuptial agreements are often called premarital agreements, and, if entered into subsequent to the marriage, postmarital or antenuptial agreements. These types of contracts typically set forth the rights that each party has to the other's property. Couples can enter into prenuptial agreements prior to a first marriage or prior to a subsequent marriage after death or DIVORCE of a prior spouse. Premarital agreements become operative in the event of divorce or the death of one spouse.

After three years of consideration, the Uniform Law Commissioners promulgated the Uniform Marital Property Act (UMPA) in 1983. For the first time, the family can be made into a functioning economic unit. And, for the first time, there is an opportunity to give more than lip service to the family as an economic entity.

The Uniform Premarital Agreement Act (UPAA) is a Uniform Act governing prenuptial agreements. It was drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 1983. The UPAA has been adopted by 27 states (Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin)

If you are about to get married and are considering a prenuptial agreement, you will find a wealth of material here, all written by an attorney.

A prenuptial accord is a contract between two people about to wed that spells out how assets will be distributed in the event of divorce or death. Such agreements have existed for thousands of years in some form or another, particularly in European and Far Eastern cultures, where royal families have always made provisions for protecting their wealth.

A prenuptial agreement is a contract entered into by two people who are about to marry. A prenuptial agreement (often called a ‘prenup’ or ‘prenupt’) is used to specify how property and debts will be divided in the event of a breakup.

Prenuptial agreements, sometimes also referred to as "antenuptial agreements" or "premarital agreements," are agreements between parties contemplating marriage that alter or confirm the legal rights and obligations that would otherwise arise under the laws governing marriages that end either through divorce or death. These agreements are fraught with controversy as to their appropriateness and their enforceability. Prenuptial agreements and the accompanying controversy are not unique to the United States. The purpose of this article is to give the non-American lawyer an overview of this rather complex area of American family law and estate planning, and also to highlight some of the common procedural and substantive requirements and issues currently in play in the United States today.