The Legal Framework: Florida's Uniform Premarital Agreement Act
Florida prenuptial agreements signed on or after October 1, 2007 are governed by Fla. Stat. § 61.079, which adopted a version of the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act. The statute sets out what a prenup can cover and the conditions under which a court can refuse to enforce all or part of it. At its core, the law requires a prenup to be in writing and signed by both parties — an oral prenup, however clearly discussed, is not enforceable in Florida.
What a Prenup Can Actually Control
Within the bounds of the statute, a prenup can address a wide range of financial and property matters between spouses: rights to buy, sell, use, or manage property owned by either spouse; how property will be divided if the marriage ends in divorce or death; whether alimony will be paid, waived, or capped; each spouse's rights in the other's life insurance, retirement accounts, or business interests; and how debts will be allocated. Couples can also use a prenup to coordinate with their estate plans — for example, waiving certain inheritance rights a spouse would otherwise have under Florida's elective share statute.
What a Prenup Cannot Control
A handful of issues are off-limits no matter how clearly a prenup addresses them. Child support and time-sharing (Florida's term for custody) are decided by the court based on the child's best interests at the time of a divorce, not locked in years earlier by agreement. A prenup also cannot be unconscionable, meaning so one-sided that enforcing it would be fundamentally unfair given the circumstances at signing.
Financial Disclosure: Not Always Required, but Rarely Worth Skipping
Unlike a postnuptial agreement, a prenup does not automatically require full financial disclosure to be enforceable. Disclosure can be waived in writing, or the agreement can still stand if the challenging spouse already had a general and reasonable understanding of the other spouse's finances at the time of signing. In practice, though, inadequate disclosure combined with a lopsided result is one of the most common grounds used to challenge a prenup later — so most attorneys recommend full, itemized disclosure from both sides regardless of what the statute technically requires.
How Courts Decide Whether to Enforce a Prenup
A Florida court can set aside a prenup, in whole or in part, if the spouse challenging it proves the agreement wasn't signed voluntarily, was the product of fraud, duress, coercion, or overreaching, was unconscionable when it was executed, or wasn't preceded by adequate financial disclosure (or a valid waiver of disclosure) combined with an unfair outcome. Each spouse having their own attorney, being given a reasonable amount of time to review the agreement before the wedding, and clear documentation of financial disclosure all make a prenup significantly harder to challenge later.
Timing Matters More Than People Expect
A prenup signed under time pressure — days or hours before the wedding, with no real opportunity to negotiate or consult counsel — is a recurring fact pattern in cases where prenups get thrown out. There's no bright-line rule in the statute about how far in advance a prenup must be signed, but courts weigh timing heavily when evaluating whether an agreement was truly voluntary. Starting the conversation early, well before invitations go out, is one of the simplest ways to protect the agreement's enforceability later.