North Miami Prenuptial Agreement Attorney

By Nadia Pazos, Family Law Attorney, Pazos Law Group · Updated July 2026

Quick Answer

Are prenuptial agreements enforceable in North Miami, Florida?

Yes. A North Miami prenup is governed by Fla. Stat. § 61.079(1), which names the statute the “Uniform Premarital Agreement Act.” Section 61.079(3) requires a signed writing and nothing more, § 61.079(5) makes it effective on marriage, and § 61.079(7)(a) lists the only three grounds on which a court may refuse to enforce it. In North Miami the practical question is usually narrower: what happens to a first business, savings, and a modest home. That is a § 61.079(4)(a) drafting question, not an enforceability question.

North Miami is a hard-working, multinational community where families build a home, a first business, and savings a little at a time. A prenuptial agreement lets a couple keep what each person brought to the marriage clearly their own.

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Prenuptial Agreements in North Miami

Couples here often marry with real but hard-won assets — a house that took years of saving, a stake in a small business, and money tied to relatives both in Miami and abroad. Florida's prenuptial agreement law lets them mark those things as separate before married life mixes them together.

We prepare and review these agreements for North Miami couples in both English and Spanish, in plain terms and without judgment about what anyone is trying to protect.

Why North Miami Couples Use Prenuptial Agreements

The reasons are usually down-to-earth: shield a family business from a marital claim, keep one partner's pre-marital debt off the other's shoulders, and set aside something for children from an earlier relationship. A prenup speaks to each of those directly.

Leave it to the default rules and Florida's equitable-distribution law decides what counts as marital — and a modest business or home can generate a claim simply by gaining value over the years. A prenup lets the couple draw those lines on their own terms.

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. Section 61.079(3) sets the bar: a writing, signed by both parties, enforceable “without consideration other than the marriage itself.” Section 61.079(5) adds that the agreement “becomes effective upon marriage of the parties.” Section 61.079(1) limits the statute to proceedings under the Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure.

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

The spouse resisting the agreement carries it. Section 61.079(7)(a) provides that a premarital agreement “is not enforceable” if “the party against whom enforcement is sought proves” one of three things:

Involuntary signing — § 61.079(7)(a)1. turns on whether the party “did not execute the agreement voluntarily.”
Improper conduct — § 61.079(7)(a)2. covers an agreement that “was the product of fraud, duress, coercion, or overreaching.”
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.

Because § 61.079(7)(a)3. requires unconscionability and a disclosure failure and no written waiver and no adequate knowledge, a complete asset schedule attached to the agreement usually ends the argument. 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.”

The statute keeps one safety valve: § 61.079(7)(b) allows a court to require support despite the agreement where the waiver would leave a spouse eligible for public assistance. Time limits are suspended while the marriage lasts: § 61.079(9) tolls any applicable statute of limitations, though laches and estoppel remain available.

A North Miami couple already married is outside § 61.079 entirely. Section 61.079(2)(a) limits the Act to agreements made in contemplation of marriage; postnuptial agreements are governed by Casto v. Casto, 508 So. 2d 330 (Fla. 1987), which permits a court to set an agreement aside for fraud, duress, or overreaching. The Legislature publishes the current version of § 61.079 at leg.state.fl.us.

Does a Florida Prenup Have to Be Notarized?

No — neither notarization nor witnesses are required by § 61.079(3). Some North Miami couples still notarize, and some sign in front of witnesses, purely to make the execution harder to attack. Under § 61.079(6), however, any later amendment or revocation must be in writing and signed by both parties.

What a North Miami Prenup Can and Cannot Cover

A North Miami prenup can separate marital from non-marital property, keep a home and a small business on one side of the line, assign pre-marital debt to the person who owes it, preserve resources for children from an earlier relationship, direct how assets pass on divorce or death, and set or waive alimony.

One line it cannot cross is children. Child support and the parenting schedule cannot be decided ahead of time; a judge settles both at the relevant time under the best-interests test in Fla. Stat. § 61.13.

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:

the rights and obligations of each party in property “whenever and wherever acquired or located” (§ 61.079(4)(a)1.);
the right to buy, sell, lease, encumber, dispose of, or otherwise manage and control property (§ 61.079(4)(a)2.);
the disposition of property on separation, dissolution, or death (§ 61.079(4)(a)3.);
“the establishment, modification, waiver, or elimination of spousal support” (§ 61.079(4)(a)4.);
the making of a will, trust, or other arrangement to carry out the agreement (§ 61.079(4)(a)5.);
ownership and disposition of life insurance death benefits (§ 61.079(4)(a)6.);
the choice of law governing construction of the agreement (§ 61.079(4)(a)7.); and
“any other matter” not violating public policy or a criminal statute (§ 61.079(4)(a)8.).

A North Miami couple can state that a pre-marriage savings account stays separate even after it is used to pay closing costs on a home bought during the marriage, with the contribution repaid first. Because § 61.079(2)(b) defines property to include future, contingent, and intangible interests as well as active and passive income, the eight subjects above cover nearly everything a North Miami couple would want to settle.

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.

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. Section 61.052(5) also allows a North Miami couple to agree to arbitrate: 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))

The limit is stated in a single line. Under § 61.079(4)(b), “The right of a child to support may not be adversely affected by a premarital agreement.” A clause purporting to cap or waive child support has no effect. The number comes from the § 61.30 guidelines and is recalculated on the facts in front of the court.

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.

There is one further limit on the adult terms. Section 61.079(7)(b) allows a court to order support notwithstanding a waiver where the waiver would leave a spouse eligible for public assistance, and § 61.079(4)(a)8. bars any term that violates “the public policy of this state or a law imposing a criminal penalty.”

How Much Does a Prenup Cost in North Miami, Florida?

Start with what a prenup does not cost: nothing is paid to a clerk. The agreement is a private contract and is filed with a court only if it is later litigated. Fees are ordinarily flat and vary by complexity. Think of it as a range rather than a price: a straightforward North Miami agreement at the low four-figure end, a complex one covering a company, trusts, or offshore assets at the upper four-figure to five-figure end. Two lawyers means two fees, and any figure quoted before the assets are reviewed is a guess.

The cost drivers are consistent — the size of the disclosure schedule that § 61.079(7)(a)3.a. effectively requires, the need for a valuation, and the number of drafts exchanged. A short agreement covering a home, savings, and one business sits at the lower end of the fee range.

Lead time matters. Rushing a signature raises the § 61.079(7)(a)1. voluntariness question and typically increases the fee, since the same work is done under pressure. For comparison, a contested dissolution starts with the Miami-Dade Clerk’s dissolution of marriage filing fee of $409.00, and everything after that — valuations, depositions, hearings — is additional. A prenup is normally the cheaper of the two documents by a wide margin.

How Long Does a Divorce Take in North Miami, Florida?

Two things must be true at filing. Section 61.021 requires six months of Florida residence by one spouse before the petition is filed, in the statute’s words that “one of the parties to the marriage must reside 6 months in the state,” and § 61.052(1)(a) requires that the marriage be irretrievably broken.

Florida has no mandatory separation or waiting period. Under § 61.052(2)(a) a court enters judgment as soon as it finds the marriage irretrievably broken in an uncontested case; under § 61.052(2)(b), where a minor child is involved, the court may continue the matter for up to three months.

Expect a mediation before any final hearing. Section 61.183 permits referral of contested issues, § 44.102 addresses court-ordered mediation, and § 44.405 keeps the discussions confidential and privileged. North Miami is a city of about sixty thousand in northeast Miami-Dade, within the Eleventh Judicial Circuit.

An enforceable prenup removes the two most expensive fights from the case. What remains after § 61.075 and § 61.08 are contracted around is child support under § 61.30 and time-sharing under § 61.13. General information about Florida’s family courts and the approved family law forms is available at flcourts.gov.

Florida Prenup Rules at a Glance

Everything above, compressed into the statutory pinpoints that decide a Miami-Dade County case:

What controls: Fla. Stat. § 61.079, adopted as the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act.
What is required: a signed writing, and nothing else (§ 61.079(3)).
When it starts: at the marriage (§ 61.079(5)); an agreement never followed by a wedding is inoperative.
Who must prove what: the party resisting enforcement, under § 61.079(7)(a).
Support floor: a waiver yields where it would leave a spouse on public assistance (§ 61.079(7)(b)).
Children: support cannot be adversely affected (§ 61.079(4)(b)); the guidelines are in § 61.30 and time-sharing in § 61.13(2)(c).
The alternative: litigating classification under § 61.075 and alimony under § 61.08 in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit.
Later changes: a signed writing is required (§ 61.079(6)).
Postnuptial agreements: outside § 61.079 and governed by Casto v. Casto, 508 So. 2d 330 (Fla. 1987).

Drafting an Agreement vs. Reviewing One

There is a real difference between writing the agreement and being handed one. Writing it means controlling the schedule of assets, the choice-of-law clause under § 61.079(4)(a)7., and how appreciation is allocated. Being handed one means checking, before signing, whether the disclosure satisfies § 61.079(7)(a)3.a. and whether the terms would survive the unconscionability analysis in § 61.079(7)(c).

How Pazos Law Group Helps North Miami Couples

From our Coral Gables office we work with North Miami couples across the city's neighborhoods, in English and Spanish, without the stiff formality that puts people off. Nadia Pazos carries an AV Preeminent rating and close to twenty years handling Miami-Dade family law, and most straightforward prenups are handled on a flat fee that generally starts around $3,000 and is quoted before any work begins.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will a prenup keep my small business out of the marriage?

Yes. A Florida prenup can label a business you already own as separate property and fix how any growth during the marriage is handled, so your spouse never picks up a marital share of the company.

Can pre-marital debt stay with the person who owes it?

Yes. The agreement can assign debts each of you brought in — a car loan, a business line, money owed to family — to that person alone, so the other spouse is not on the hook if the marriage ends.

Can a prenup set child support or custody in advance?

No. Those decisions belong to the court under the best-interests standard in Fla. Stat. § 61.13 and cannot be locked in by a prenup, no matter what the document says.

Does the house I bought before the wedding stay mine?

It starts as non-marital, but mortgage paydown and appreciation during the marriage can hand your spouse a partial claim. A prenup can state that the home and its increase in value remain yours alone.

Are prenuptial agreements enforceable in North Miami, Florida?

Yes. Enforceability is set by Fla. Stat. § 61.079. Section 61.079(3) requires only a writing signed by both parties, and § 61.079(5) makes it effective on marriage. A North Miami court will enforce it unless the resisting spouse proves involuntary execution, fraud or duress or coercion or overreaching, or unconscionability combined with a failure of disclosure, all under § 61.079(7)(a).

How much does a prenup cost in North Miami, Florida?

A prenup carries no court cost. Attorney fees are quoted as a range that varies by complexity: simple finances at the lower end, and business interests, trusts, foreign property, or equity compensation at the higher end. Separate counsel for each spouse is standard practice, so a North Miami couple should budget for two engagements.

Can a North Miami prenup waive child support or set a parenting schedule?

No. Fla. Stat. § 61.079(4)(b) states that the right of a child to support may not be adversely affected by a premarital agreement. Support is calculated under the guidelines in § 61.30, and since 1 July 2023 § 61.13(2)(c) starts time-sharing from a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing is in the child’s best interests.

Does a Florida prenup have to be notarized or witnessed?

No. Neither a notary nor witnesses are required by § 61.079(3), which asks only for a signed writing and dispenses with consideration beyond the marriage. Notarizing is a practical safeguard rather than a legal condition. Section 61.079(6) is stricter about changes: they must be written and signed.

How long does a divorce take in North Miami, Florida?

Fla. Stat. § 61.021 requires that one party reside in Florida for 6 months before the petition is filed, and § 61.052(1)(a) requires only that the marriage be irretrievably broken. Florida imposes no waiting period after filing, so an uncontested case can conclude quickly, while a contested one in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit commonly runs far longer. A valid prenuptial agreement shortens the case by removing property division under § 61.075 and alimony under § 61.08 from dispute.

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Prenuptial Agreements for North Miami Couples

North Miami families work hard for a home, a business, and the savings behind them. A prenuptial agreement under Fla. Stat. § 61.079 puts in writing what stays separate, so a marriage starts on clear terms. Pazos Law Group drafts and reviews these agreements in English and Spanish.

Postnuptial Agreements in North Miami

Many North Miami couples asking about a prenup are already married. The instrument for that situation is a postnuptial agreement — the same financial planning, signed after the wedding rather than before. The subject matter is usually identical to a premarital agreement: homeowners, small businesses, and families.

Many form providers miss this: the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act stops at the altar. Section 61.079(2)(a) limits Fla. Stat. § 61.079 to agreements made in contemplation of marriage. Once a North Miami couple is married, the controlling standard comes from Casto v. Casto, 508 So. 2d 330 (Fla. 1987), under which an agreement may be set aside for fraud, duress, coercion, or overreaching, or for unfairness where disclosure was incomplete.

A North Miami postnuptial agreement can classify separate and marital property, allocate debt, address a business, and define or waive spousal support that would otherwise fall under § 61.08. What it cannot do is affect a child’s right to support — that right belongs to the child and is calculated under § 61.30 regardless of what the spouses agree.

More on Florida postnuptial agreements →

Prenuptial Agreements in Nearby Communities

The same § 61.079 analysis applies across South Florida. Nearby communities:

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