Also known as: prenuptial agreements · prenup · prenups · pre-nuptial agreement · pre-nuptial agreements · premarital agreement · antenuptial agreement · premarital contract
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A written contract between individuals who intend to marry that affirms, modifies, or waives a marital right or obligation during the marriage or at separation, marital dissolution, death of one of the spouses, or the occurrence or nonoccurrence of any other event.
Pearl Porter and Phuong Pham signed a prenuptial agreement before their wedding that eliminated all spousal support. Five years later Phuong lost her high-paying job and developed a serious illness that prevented her from working. When the marriage ended, the court refused to enforce the support waiver because enforcement would cause Phuong substantial hardship from a material change in circumstances arising after signing.
Phoebe Park brought substantial separate real-estate holdings into her marriage with Parker Phillips. Their prenuptial agreement addressed only support and left property division to state law. At divorce the court treated the agreement as one factor in its equitable apportionment of all assets acquired during the marriage, without regard to marital misconduct.
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Piper Patel and Pamela Phillips lived together for several years and pooled earnings to buy a home. After separation Piper sought to enforce their written agreement dividing the home and other assets. The court upheld the agreement because it rested on valid consideration independent of any sexual relationship and did not violate public policy.
Parker Phillips and Piper Patel signed a prenuptial agreement that included a clause directing disposition of frozen preembryos in the event of divorce. After the marriage ended, one party sought to use the preembryos over the other's objection. The court refused to enforce the clause because it would compel parenthood against the contemporaneous wishes of one donor.
No. A written prenuptial agreement signed by both parties is enforceable without consideration under modern statutes governing waivers of spousal rights.
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A prenuptial agreement is unenforceable if the party against whom enforcement is sought did not receive a reasonably accurate description of the other party's property, liabilities, and income, or expressly waive further disclosure, or already possess adequate knowledge of that information.
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Duress exists when one party conditions the wedding or essential benefits on immediate signature and the timing and pressure overcome the other party's free will, leaving no reasonable alternative.
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Access to independent legal representation is required unless the agreement contains the statutory conspicuous notice of waiver or a plain-language explanation of the rights modified. Access means a reasonable opportunity to decide on counsel, locate one, obtain advice, and consider it.
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Yes. A written prenuptial agreement signed by the surviving spouse can affirm, modify, or waive the elective share, homestead allowance, exempt property, and family allowance, and such an agreement is enforceable without consideration.
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…of Dawley (1976) 17 Cal.3d 342 [131 Cal. Rptr. 3, 551 P.2d 323] offers a close analogy. Rejecting the contention that an antenuptial agreement is invalid if the parties contemplated a marriage of short duration, we pointed out in Dawley that a standard based upon the subjective contemplation of the parties is uncertain and…