Free Prenuptial Agreement Forms [PDF Download]

Parties that are about to get married often choose to make a prenuptial agreement and define their rights and responsibilities during the marriage. The parties can also use the document to protect their interests in case they get divorced.

In this way, the parties will prevent potential misunderstandings about their financial and non-financial interests during the marriage and prevent potential financial disputes that often lead to a divorce.

Even if a divorce between the parties happens, they can use a prenuptial agreement after marriage to streamline the property division and make the divorce procedure much simpler.

What is a Prenuptial Agreement Form?

The prenuptial agreement form is a legal document that the two future spouses sign before getting married, with the goal of defining each party's rights and responsibilities in terms of their financial and non-financial relationship.

When it comes to their financial relationship, the parties will use the document to provide a list of each party’s assets and liabilities accumulated before signing the agreement. Then they will outline the agreement on what assets and liabilities will remain the individual property of each spouse and what will be considered the marital property of both spouses.

Should You Get a Prenuptial Form?

A prenuptial agreement should be used between any spouses who have certain assets and liabilities acquired before the marriage, regardless of their value.

The main motivation for the parties to draft and sign the prenuptial agreement should be to define their rights and responsibilities during and after the marriage.

Drafting the prenup agreement is especially necessary if the parties have children from previous relationships. They can specify a separate portion of their property that their children can inherit in the event of a death, thanks to the prenuptial agreement.

Prenuptial Agreement Form by States

Pros and Cons of Having a Prenuptial Agreement

Whether the prenuptial will be beneficial for a future couple depends on multiple factors as well as the individual circumstances of the parties. Therefore, it is necessary that both parties fully understand the purpose of such a document and understand the legal effects it can produce.

Here, you can see some of the main advantages of drafting the prenuptial agreement:

Prenuptial Agreement Advantages

The prenuptial agreement is a good way to customize state laws and regulations regarding marital or community property. The state laws are often just providing general rules in this regard, and drafting the prenup agreement can help the parties provide specific provisions that will better regulate their relationship.
It can prevent future disputes and minimize the cost of eventual disputes. By outlining each party’s financial rights and responsibilities, the parties will prevent potential disputes. Even if some dispute arises, the procedure for solving it will be much easier with the prenuptial agreement on the table.
It promotes transparency between future spouses. After creating the prenuptial agreement, each party will know exactly what to expect from their partner and their financial relationship.

However, there are also certain drawbacks to having a prenup agreement, namely:

Prenuptial Agreement Drawbacks

The prenup agreement may not always hold up in court. When drafting a prenuptial agreement, the parties must make sure all of the provisions are in line with the state laws. Otherwise, the agreement won’t hold up in court. Our professional prenuptial agreement builder can help you draft the agreement according to all the state laws and regulations.
A prenuptial agreement might be a reason for a lack of trust in a relationship. Therefore, the parties must discuss creating the prenup agreement openly and cooperate throughout the whole process of drafting this legal document.
An agreement might become outdated over time. Some circumstances that motivated the parties to create certain provisions before getting married might change after several years of marriage. Therefore, the parties should always consider updating and revising their prenuptial agreement.

What Does a Prenuptial Agreement Cover?

The prenuptial agreement can cover multiple aspects of the financial and non-financial relationship between the two future spouses.

In this section, you can see all the elements that a prenuptial agreement usually includes:

What Details Should Prenuptial Agreement Have?

#1. Parties

The document should first include all the details about each future spouse. This includes their first and last name, mailing address, and contact information. Besides the general information, the document should also include a detailed list of all the assets and liabilities each party acquired before signing the agreement.

#2. Distribution of Property

In the following section of the agreement, the parties should determine what part of their property or debts acquired before the marriage will become marital property and what part they will keep as individual property.

Moreover, the parties can include provisions that will determine how the property the spouses acquired during the marriage will be divided in the event of a divorce.

#3. Business Ownership

This provision can be included if one or both parties have ownership shares in certain businesses. The prenuptial agreement will define if all the business shares or interests will become marital property or if the other spouse will only have interest if the value of the company shares changes during the marriage.

The agreement can also define if the other spouse will have any decision-making rights in the company based on their business ownership rights.

#4. Savings & Retirement

The prenuptial agreement can also provide more details on how each party’s savings and retirement funds will be treated in the event of a divorce or death. This also refers to the pension, where the parties can determine the pension fund to be the individual property of one spouse or declare it marital or community property.

#5. Healthcare Insurance

Here, the parties can provide the obligation of one of the parties to maintain the healthcare insurance policy for the other party. Moreover, the parties can also determine that one of the parties will only partially cover the health insurance of the other party.

The parties can use the prenuptial agreement to include similar agreements for other types of insurance.

#6. Alimony Information

The parties can use this section to define if one of the parties will have an obligation to pay spousal support or alimony to the other party in the event of a divorce.

They can determine the amount of alimony to be paid in monthly installments or in a lump sum, or they can completely waive their right to alimony. The agreement can also set a minimum amount that one of the parties will be obliged to pay to the other party if they get divorced.

#7. Allocation of Debt

The parties use this section if they have acquired certain debts before the marriage. In this section, the future spouses will determine which part of these debts will become marital property and which part will remain the individual property of the parties. This can include any mortgages, credit card debts, car loans, or any other kinds of debts.

Moreover, the parties can provide information on how they will pay off the debts accumulated during the marriage if the marriage dissolves.

#8. Information on Children

The prenuptial agreement can include provisions that closely define the asset protection and inheritance rights of the children during and after the marriage. The prenuptial agreement can specify that a specific portion of the future spouse’s individual property must pass down to their children from previous relationships.

The prenuptial agreement, however, cannot include provisions that regulate child custody and child support, since in most states, this is in the exclusive jurisdiction of the court.

#9. Severability Clause

At the end of the agreement, the parties can also include a couple of protection clauses, such as the severability clause. It provides that if one or more provisions of the prenuptial agreement are found to be unenforceable, the parties agree that the remainder of the agreement will still be considered valid.

#10. Signatures

Finally, the parties should provide their signatures at the end of a document. Most state laws require both parties to sign the agreement. Otherwise, it will be considered invalid.

Something that is not often required by state law but is nonetheless important for the prenuptial agreement is to provide witness or notary acknowledgments.

By having witnesses or a notary public acknowledge that the parties have signed the prenuptial agreement, the document itself will have additional confirmation of its authenticity. This will prevent potential fraudulent activities and protect the validity of the document.

Requirements For the Validity of a Prenup Agreement

Most of the states have adopted the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act (UPAA). This document defines the basic criteria for the validity of the prenuptial agreement.

Here, you can see the main conditions that must be met for the prenuptial agreement to be considered valid.

First, the premarital agreement must be made in writing. The court often declared invalid the oral prenup agreements or the agreements that were not made in a proper written form (written on a napkin, without including the crucial elements of the agreement).

Moreover, when drafting the prenuptial agreement, the parties must make sure all the provisions of their prenuptial agreement are in line with state law and public policy. Certain provisions that violate state law can cause a part or a whole agreement to be declared invalid.

Finally, the validity of the prenuptial agreement also depends on the existence and validity of the marriage. The prenup agreement will not be considered valid and enforceable if the parties don’t get married after signing it. Moreover, if the parties enter into an invalid marriage and the marriage becomes void, that will also cause the invalidity of the prenup agreement.

How Can a Prenuptial Agreement be Revoked or Voided?

The prenuptial agreement can be revoked or voided by the mutual agreement of the parties, the expiration of the agreement, or a violation of certain provisions of the agreement.

The most simple situation among all the ones mentioned above is when both parties mutually agree to revoke the prenuptial agreement. This can happen if the circumstances under which the parties decided to make the agreement have changed, and the parties don’t need the agreement to regulate their financial and non-financial relationships anymore.

Similar to the mutual agreement on revocation, the parties can also mutually agree to make certain amendments to their prenuptial agreement. The parties would usually have to rewrite the whole agreement, sign it, and notarize it.

The parties can also set an expiration date for the prenuptial agreement. This can be done by setting a specific date, after which the agreement will be considered revoked.

Finally, one of the parties can initiate the procedure of declaring the prenuptial agreement void. This usually happens when one of the parties has violated the provisions of the agreement or if one of the parties entered the agreement against their will.

How to Make a Prenup Agreement

The process of making the prenuptial agreement usually starts after the parties have discussed this idea with each other and after they have both consulted their legal advisors to make sure they both understand the consequences of signing such an agreement.

This section includes a step-by-step guide on how to create a prenuptial agreement.

Step 1: Have a Discussion With Your Future Spouse

Before you start the process of drafting the prenuptial agreement, it’s important that you discuss the idea with your future spouse and make sure both of you fully understand the purpose of having the prenuptial agreement.

Both parties should also be able to consult their legal advisor before signing the agreement, or even have them review the prenuptial agreement and participate in the drafting process.

It is also important to make sure the parties have enough time to review the prenuptial agreement before signing it.

Step 2: Provide Information of Both Parties

At the very beginning of the document, you should insert the basic details about the future spouses. This often includes their first and last name, their mailing address, zip code, state, and contact information.

Step 3: Divide the Property

After providing details about the parties, you should list out the assets and liabilities each acquired before signing this agreement. This can include their funds, real estate, shares, stocks, bonds, insurance, pension, and more. When it comes to liabilities, the parties can indicate if they have a mortgage, a student loan, credit card debt, or any other type of liability.

Once all the assets and liabilities of both parties are listed, the document should include an agreement between the parties on the status of their property acquired before the marriage. The parties can determine which part of their property will be considered marital property and which part they will keep as individual property.

If the parties have certain debts acquired before the marriage, the document should also clarify if these debts will become a common responsibility of both parties after the marriage or if they will remain the sole responsibility of the party that acquired them.

Step 4: Decide on the Business Ownership

If one of the parties has a certain equity or share in a business, the prenuptial agreement can be a useful way of defining the rights of the other spouse towards the share of their partner. Like with any other asset, the parties can determine if the equity or share will become marital property after marriage or if it will remain the individual property of one of the parties.

The parties can also agree upon the status of any increase in the value of the shares. They can agree that only the amount by which the value of the company has increased should be considered marital property.

Step 5: Agree on Distribution of the Property

One of the crucial sections of the prenuptial agreement template is the agreement on the distribution of marital property in case the parties get divorced. Here, the parties can specify certain assets that will become the individual property of a certain party or determine a proportion of all the marital property that will belong to each party after divorce.

The agreement can also provide how the marital home will be divided and provide a cash settlement in lieu of property. The agreement can also provide how the value of the marital home will be determined.

This section can also include the agreement on spousal support, insurance, pensions, and more.

Step 6: Decide on Living Arrangements

The parties can include this section in their prenuptial agreement if they want to specify the responsibilities of each party in connection with the household duties of similar matters.

The parties can agree that one party will be primarily responsible for the children and household during the marriage and provide compensation for that person if the marriage fails.

These provisions might not always be enforceable, but the parties can use them to provide a certain baseline for their family relationship.

Step 7: Discuss & Decide Other Information

Here, the parties can define any other matter that is important for their financial and non-financial relationship. Some of the most common provisions are about the bonus payouts for one of the spouses if the marriage lasts for a certain period of time or the penalties for infidelity.

This section can also include provisions regarding the children of the parties that they have brought to the marriage from their previous relationships and define the rights of the children to inherit the spouses. However, the agreement cannot include provisions that regulate child support and the custody of the children, since this is in the exclusive jurisdiction of the court.

Step 8: Sign the Agreement

At the end of the document, each party should sign the agreement by providing their full name and signature. The state law requires both parties to sign the document for it to be valid.

Although not required, the parties should also consider including witness signatures on their document or notarizing their agreement. This will provide additional confirmation of the document’s authenticity and prevent any disputes between the parties in this regard, as well as any fraudulent activities.

Prenuptial Agreement FAQ

The prenuptial agreement doesn’t need to be notarized. However, by notarizing the prenuptial agreement, the parties will additionally confirm the authenticity of the document. The notary public will identify both parties to the agreement and confirm that they have both personally signed the document.
No, you cannot create a valid prenup agreement after you have already gotten married. However, if you are already married, you can always create a postnuptial agreement to regulate matters related to financial and non-financial relationships with your spouse.
The prenuptial agreements hold up in court if they are in line with all the state laws and public policy. This means that the agreement must not be unconscionable, must not be signed under pressure, duress, fraud, or other kind of manipulation of the parties free will, and that both parties to the agreement must understand the consequences of signing the document.
Besides that, the prenuptial agreement must fulfill all the formality requirements to be considered valid. This means that the document must be in written form and that both parties to the agreement must sign it.
No, your partner won’t assume your accrued debt before getting married. The parties are commonly responsible only for the debts acquired during the marriage. However, some parties can use the prenuptial agreement to define that the individual debt one of the parties has acquired before marriage becomes part of the marital debt after they get married.