Prenuptial Agreements for Business Owners in Florida

By Nadia Pazos, Family Law Attorney, Pazos Law Group · Updated October 13, 2026

What Happens to Your Business Without a Prenup

Florida divides marital property in a divorce under § 61.075. For a business owner, three rules matter most:

• Growth from marital effort is marital. “The enhancement in value and appreciation of nonmarital assets resulting from the efforts of either party during the marriage or from the contribution to or expenditure thereon of marital funds or other forms of marital assets, or both” is a marital asset (§ 61.075(6)(a)1.b.). If you run the business full time during the marriage, much of its growth can fall on the marital side.
• A business started during the marriage is presumed marital. Assets acquired during the marriage and not established as nonmarital are presumed marital (§ 61.075(8)). A company you found after the wedding starts on the marital side unless an agreement says otherwise.
• Enterprise goodwill is marital and must be valued. For a closely held business the standard of value is fair market value, and goodwill “separate and distinct from the continued presence and reputation of the owner spouse” is enterprise goodwill, “a marital asset that must be valued by the court” (§ 61.075(6)(a)1.f.).

What protects you is also in the statute: nonmarital assets include those “excluded from marital assets and liabilities by valid written agreement of the parties” (§ 61.075(6)(b)4.). A prenup is that written agreement. For the legal background in more depth (active and passive appreciation, Kaaa v. Kaaa), see Can a prenup protect my business in Florida?

What a Business Owner’s Prenup Should Say

§ 61.079(4)(a) lets the parties contract about property “whenever and wherever acquired or located,” the right to manage and control it, and its disposition “upon separation, marital dissolution, death, or the occurrence or nonoccurrence of any other event.” For a business, the agreement usually covers:

1. Which business interests are separate: the shares, membership units or partnership interest you own today, and whether businesses you start or buy later are separate too.
2. The growth: whether appreciation during the marriage, including growth from your own work, stays separate.
3. Your pay, distributions and retained earnings: a salary earned during the marriage is marital, while income from a nonmarital business stays nonmarital unless it is “treated, used, or relied upon by the parties as a marital asset” (§ 61.075(6)(b)3.). Saying how salary, distributions and profits left in the company are treated prevents later disputes, including the argument that you underpaid yourself.
4. Marital money put into the business: whether a loan or contribution from joint funds is repaid, and how.
5. A spouse who works in the business: whether that work creates any claim, and how a salary paid to the spouse is treated.
6. Valuation: the method and date to use if a value is ever needed, because the statute fixes fair market value but not the method.
7. Co-owners: that the spouse takes no ownership or management rights, consistent with your operating or shareholder agreement.

Each of you also needs to make fair and reasonable financial disclosure. An agreement can be set aside if it was unconscionable when signed and the challenging spouse had no fair and reasonable disclosure, did not waive it in writing, and had no adequate knowledge of the other’s finances (§ 61.079(7)(a)3.). See financial disclosure for a Florida prenup.

Common Situations We See

A restaurant, shop or hospitality business

Restaurants are often co-owned with a sibling, a parent or an outside partner, and they often grow through the owner’s long hours. The prenup should name your ownership percentage, keep growth from your work separate if that is the intent, and confirm that your spouse takes no interest that would conflict with your partners’ buy-sell terms. If you plan to open a new location during the marriage, say whether that new entity is separate too.

A medical, dental or other professional practice

For a practice, the goodwill question matters most. Goodwill tied to your own presence and reputation is personal; goodwill that would stay with the practice without you is enterprise goodwill, a marital asset under § 61.075(6)(a)1.f. to the extent it is marital. A prenup can classify the practice interest and its goodwill, and set how any value would be measured. If your practice has partners, check the partnership or shareholder agreement first, because it may already require a spousal waiver.

A family company held with your parents

Parents who own a family company often ask the next generation to sign a prenup before they transfer shares. Shares you receive by gift or inheritance from someone other than your spouse are nonmarital (§ 61.075(6)(b)2.), but growth from your work in the company during the marriage can still be marital. The prenup can keep both the shares and their growth separate, and it should match the transfer restrictions in the company’s documents. See also protecting an inheritance with a Florida prenup.

Both of you own businesses

When each spouse owns a company, the simplest agreement is usually mutual: each business, and its growth, stays with its owner, and neither spouse claims the other’s. Mutual terms are easier to explain and harder to attack later as one-sided.

Founders, startup equity and investment holdings

Early-stage equity, vesting shares, real-estate LLCs and fund interests raise valuation and vesting questions of their own. Our high-net-worth prenup page for founders, partners and investors covers those in detail.

Already Married? A Postnup Can Do the Same Work

If you are already married, a postnuptial agreement can classify the business going forward. Florida judges postnups under Casto v. Casto, 508 So. 2d 330 (Fla. 1987), not under § 61.079, so disclosure is even more important. See Florida postnuptial agreements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Primary Sources

• Fla. Stat. § 61.079 — premarital agreements: (4)(a) permitted subjects, (7)(a) enforcement.
• Fla. Stat. § 61.075 — equitable distribution: (6)(a)1.b. enhancement in value, (6)(a)1.f. closely held businesses and enterprise goodwill, (6)(b)2. and 4. nonmarital assets, (8) presumption.

Related Reading

• High-net-worth prenups for founders, partners and investors
• Can a prenup protect my business in Florida?
• Miami prenuptial agreement attorney
• Florida postnuptial agreements
• Financial disclosure for a Florida prenup