Miami Prenuptial Agreement Attorney

Are Prenuptial Agreements Enforceable in Florida?

Yes. Since the Legislature adopted the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act in 2007, one statute has answered the question for every county in the state, including Miami-Dade. 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)?

The party attacking the agreement bears it. Section 61.079(7)(a) makes an agreement unenforceable where “the party against whom enforcement is sought proves” any one of three grounds:

1. Involuntary signing — § 61.079(7)(a)1. turns on whether the party “did not execute the agreement voluntarily.”
2. Improper conduct — § 61.079(7)(a)2. covers an agreement that “was the product of fraud, duress, coercion, or overreaching.”
3. An unconscionable bargain struck in the dark — § 61.079(7)(a)3. applies only where the agreement “was unconscionable when it was executed” and the challenger was not given a fair and reasonable disclosure, did not waive disclosure in writing, and did not otherwise have 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. Section 61.079(7)(c) assigns the unconscionability issue to the court “as a matter of law,” which is why the analysis looks to the circumstances at execution rather than to how the marriage turned out.

Section 61.079(7)(b) sets an outer limit on support waivers: if the waiver would push a spouse onto public assistance, the court may order support “notwithstanding the terms of the agreement.” Two housekeeping provisions round out the section: § 61.079(9) tolls limitations during the marriage, and § 61.079(10) leaves the formalities of spousal agreements under the Probate Code untouched.

Timing decides which body of law applies. Because § 61.079(2)(a) covers only agreements “made in contemplation of marriage,” a document signed after the ceremony is judged under Casto v. Casto, 508 So. 2d 330 (Fla. 1987), rather than under the statute. The official text of the statute is available from the Florida Legislature at leg.state.fl.us.

Does a Florida Prenup Have to Be Notarized?

No. Section 61.079(3) sets the entire formality requirement, and a notary is not part of it. Notarizing is common practice in Miami but legally optional. What is not optional is the form of any later change: § 61.079(6) requires a signed writing to amend, revoke, or abandon the agreement.

What a Miami Prenup Can and Cannot Cover

A Miami prenup can classify property as separate or marital wherever and whenever it was acquired, set what happens on divorce, separation, or death, and establish, limit, or waive spousal support. It can carve out a business interest or professional practice, protect an inheritance expected from relatives abroad, allocate life-insurance death benefits, and even choose which state’s or country’s law governs interpretation.

It cannot bargain away a child’s rights. Child support and time-sharing are decided by the court under the best-interests standard of Fla. Stat. § 61.13 and cannot be predetermined by the couple’s contract.

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

Under § 61.079(4)(a) the parties may contract with respect to eight things, the last of which is deliberately open-ended:

• Property rights of either or both parties, “whenever and wherever acquired or located” (§ 61.079(4)(a)1.).
• Management and control — buying, selling, leasing, encumbering, or disposing of property (§ 61.079(4)(a)2.).
• Disposition of property “upon separation, marital dissolution, death, or the occurrence or nonoccurrence of any other event” (§ 61.079(4)(a)3.).
• Spousal support, including its complete elimination (§ 61.079(4)(a)4.).
• Wills, trusts, and other arrangements carrying out the agreement (§ 61.079(4)(a)5.).
• Life insurance death benefits (§ 61.079(4)(a)6.).
• Choice of governing law (§ 61.079(4)(a)7.).
• Any other lawful matter, including personal rights and obligations (§ 61.079(4)(a)8.).

A Miami couple can select Florida law to govern the agreement, list property held in another country, and state that a foreign inheritance stays separate no matter where it is later deposited. Those categories are broad because the defined term is broad. Section 61.079(2)(b) treats property as any interest “present or future, legal or equitable, vested or contingent,” tangible or intangible, “including income and earnings, both active and passive.”

Without an agreement, the default rules apply. Fla. Stat. § 61.075 requires the court to classify property before dividing it; § 61.075(6)(b) treats assets acquired before the marriage and property acquired separately by gift or inheritance as nonmarital, while § 61.075(6)(a)1.b. pulls the enhancement in value of a nonmarital asset into the marital estate when it results from marital labor or marital funds. Kaaa v. Kaaa, 58 So. 3d 867 (Fla. 2010), addresses how passive appreciation on a nonmarital property is treated when marital funds pay down the mortgage.

A support clause is often the most valuable term. Section 61.079(4)(a)4. authorizes establishing, modifying, waiving, or eliminating spousal support, displacing the durational limits and calculations of § 61.08 as amended in 2023. 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))

Everything in § 61.079(4)(a) is subject to the next paragraph. Section 61.079(4)(b) states that “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.

A prenup also cannot set a parenting plan. Under § 61.13(2)(c), effective 1 July 2023, equal time-sharing is presumed to be in the child’s best interests unless the presumption is rebutted by a preponderance of the evidence.

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.