Weston Prenuptial Agreement Attorney

Are Prenuptial Agreements Enforceable in Florida?

Yes. Enforceability in Weston turns on a single section of the Florida Statutes and on nothing in the local rules of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. 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 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.

The third ground is the one most often argued and the hardest to win, because § 61.079(7)(a)3. requires unconscionability plus the absence of disclosure, plus the absence of a written waiver, plus the absence of adequate knowledge. Section 61.079(7)(c) keeps unconscionability away from the fact-finder: “An issue of unconscionability of a premarital agreement shall be decided by the court as a matter of law.”

One override survives even a valid waiver. Section 61.079(7)(b) provides that where a support waiver “causes one party to the agreement to be eligible for support under a program of public assistance,” the court may require the other party to provide support to the extent necessary to avoid that eligibility. 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.

A Weston 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. 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. The only formality in § 61.079(3) is a signed writing. Notarization is optional in Weston and does not affect whether a court will enforce the agreement, though it removes one line of argument about signatures. Changing the agreement later is harder than signing it: under § 61.079(6) an amendment, revocation, or abandonment must itself be “a written agreement signed by the parties.”

What a Weston Prenup Can and Cannot Cover

A Florida prenuptial agreement can address property division, spousal support and the handling of separate assets, but it cannot predetermine child support or custody. Under Fla. Stat. § 61.13 those matters are decided according to the best interests of the child at the relevant time.

What it cannot do is fix a child’s support or a parenting schedule in advance. Those issues remain with the court under the best-interests standard in Fla. Stat. § 61.13.

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

Florida does not leave the scope to guesswork. Section 61.079(4)(a) sets out eight subjects a Weston couple may address:

• 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 Weston couple can state that property and accounts held in another country stay separate, and can require that any dispute about the agreement be decided under Florida law. 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 Weston 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.

Spousal support is contractible under § 61.079(4)(a)4., which permits “the establishment, modification, waiver, or elimination of spousal support.” A waiver displaces the framework in § 61.08 as rewritten in 2023, subject only to the public-assistance override in § 61.079(7)(b). Arbitration clauses are expressly contemplated. Under § 61.052(5), a court may enforce a premarital agreement to arbitrate “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.” Because the right is the child’s, the parents have nothing to trade. Support is computed under the § 61.30 guidelines from combined net income and the overnight split, and a Seventeenth Judicial Circuit judge runs that calculation regardless of what the agreement says.

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.