Miami Lakes Prenuptial Agreement Attorney

Are Prenuptial Agreements Enforceable in Florida?

Yes. For A Miami Lakes agreement governed by § 61.079, subsection (7)(a) places the burden on the party resisting enforcement to prove a listed ground. The formal requirements are in § 61.079(3), which provides that a premarital agreement “must be in writing and signed by both parties” and is “enforceable without consideration other than the marriage itself.” Nothing else is required to form it. Section 61.079(5) then supplies the trigger: the agreement “becomes effective upon marriage of the parties.”

Who Has the Burden of Proof Under § 61.079(7)(a)?

It falls on the challenger, not on the spouse relying on the document. Under § 61.079(7)(a) an agreement is unenforceable only where “the party against whom enforcement is sought proves” one of the following:

1. Involuntary execution. Section 61.079(7)(a)1. asks whether the party “did not execute the agreement voluntarily.”
2. Fraud, duress, coercion, or overreaching. Section 61.079(7)(a)2. voids an agreement that “was the product of fraud, duress, coercion, or overreaching.”
3. Unconscionability plus a disclosure failure. Section 61.079(7)(a)3. requires that the agreement “was unconscionable when it was executed” and that the challenger received no “fair and reasonable disclosure,” signed no written waiver of disclosure, and had no adequate knowledge of the other party’s property or financial obligations.

A complete asset schedule can address the disclosure component of § 61.079(7)(a)3., but it does not resolve separate claims involving voluntariness, fraud, duress, coercion, or overreaching. The unconscionability question is for the judge. Section 61.079(7)(c) states that it “shall be decided by the court as a matter of law.”

Even a fully valid waiver of alimony has a floor. Section 61.079(7)(b) lets the court order support where the waiver would otherwise make a spouse eligible for a public assistance program. Under § 61.079(9), a limitations period on a claim arising from the agreement does not run during the marriage, but equitable defenses still apply.

Note the boundary drawn by § 61.079(2)(a): the Act reaches only agreements made in contemplation of marriage. After the wedding, the controlling authority is Casto v. Casto, 508 So. 2d 330 (Fla. 1987). Section 61.079 can be read in full on the Florida Legislature’s site at leg.state.fl.us.

Does a Florida Prenup Have to Be Notarized?

No. Section 61.079(3) requires a writing signed by both parties and nothing else — no notary, no witnesses, no recording. Many Miami Lakes couples notarize anyway because a notarized signature is harder to dispute years later, but notarization is not a condition of enforceability. Amendment is stricter than execution: § 61.079(6) provides that after marriage the agreement “may be amended, revoked, or abandoned only by a written agreement signed by the parties.”

What a Miami Lakes Prenup Can and Cannot Cover

A Miami Lakes prenup can separate marital from non-marital property, protect a family business interest and its growth, address a home and savings, preserve assets for children from a prior marriage, direct how assets pass on divorce or death, and set or waive alimony.

One subject stays out of reach: the children. A prenup cannot decide child support or a parenting schedule ahead of time; those are left to the court under the best-interests standard in Fla. Stat. § 61.13.

What Can a Prenup Cover Under § 61.079(4)(a)?

Section 61.079(4)(a) lists eight subjects that prospective spouses “may contract with respect to.” They are, in the statute’s order:

• Property rights generally — each party’s rights in property “whenever and wherever acquired or located” (§ 61.079(4)(a)1.).
• Control of property — the power to buy, sell, transfer, lease, mortgage, encumber, or otherwise manage it (§ 61.079(4)(a)2.).
• What happens on separation, divorce, or death (§ 61.079(4)(a)3.).
• Spousal support — its “establishment, modification, waiver, or elimination” (§ 61.079(4)(a)4.).
• Estate documents — the making of a will or trust to carry out the agreement (§ 61.079(4)(a)5.).
• Life insurance — ownership and disposition of the death benefit (§ 61.079(4)(a)6.).
• Choice of law governing how the agreement is construed (§ 61.079(4)(a)7.).
• A catch-all for “any other matter” that does not violate public policy or a criminal law (§ 61.079(4)(a)8.).

A Miami Lakes couple can state that a contracting or distribution company owned before the wedding stays separate, including any equipment bought with company funds during the marriage. The definition in § 61.079(2)(b) covers contingent and future interests as well as present ones, and it names “income and earnings, both active and passive” explicitly. Very little of a Miami Lakes balance sheet falls outside it.

If a Miami Lakes couple signs nothing, § 61.075 supplies the answer instead. Nonmarital status under § 61.075(6)(b) is real but fragile, because § 61.075(6)(a)1.b. converts marital-effort enhancement into a divisible asset, and Kaaa v. Kaaa, 58 So. 3d 867 (Fla. 2010), extends the analysis to passive appreciation on encumbered property.

Alimony is squarely within § 61.079(4)(a)4. Agreeing on it in advance is what keeps § 61.08 — substantially rewritten in 2023 — from being litigated later. One more provision is easy to miss: § 61.052(5) provides that a court “may enforce an antenuptial agreement to arbitrate a dispute in accordance with the law and tradition chosen by the parties.”

What a Prenup Cannot Waive (§ 61.079(4)(b))

Section 61.079(4)(b) is one sentence long and it is absolute: “The right of a child to support may not be adversely affected by a premarital agreement.” The right belongs to the child, not to the parents, so it cannot be bargained away. Child support in a Miami-Dade County case is calculated from the guidelines schedule in Fla. Stat. § 61.30 using both parents’ net incomes and the number of overnights.

The same is true of the parenting schedule. Section 61.13(2)(c) has, since 1 July 2023, started the analysis from a rebuttable presumption of equal time-sharing, applied to the facts as they exist at the time of the case.

The remaining limits are narrow. Under § 61.079(4)(a)8. a term must not violate Florida public policy or a criminal statute, and under § 61.079(7)(b) a support waiver yields where it would leave a spouse on public assistance.