Liz Federowicz, Esq.

Liz is General Counsel at Expa, a venture studio and VC firm that builds and invests in early-stage startups. She began her legal career in-house at a tech company and at Fenwick & West, where she advised startups and investment firms on hundreds of transactions.

23 articles

• 01 Planning Prenups and the FIRE Movement When separate property earns market growth during a marriage, that appreciation may be treated as marital or as separate depending on whether it is active or passive, a distinction courts weigh case by case.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Aug 5, 2026
• 02 Planning Prenups for Teachers and Professors: Pensions, 403(b)s, and Academic Intellectual Property The median annual wage for postsecondary teachers was $83,980 in May 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and for a career educator the pension is often the single largest marital asset.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Jul 28, 2026
• 03 Planning Prenups for First Responders: Pensions, QDROs, and Why a Divorce Decree Isn’t Enough State and municipal pensions for police and firefighters are divided by a court order such as a QDRO or its public-plan equivalent, not by the divorce decree alone, per the U.S. Department of Labor.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Jul 28, 2026
• 04 Planning Prenups for Venture Capitalists: Carried Interest, GP Stakes, and the Valuation Problem Carried interest that vests across a marriage can be treated as partly marital property, so venture capitalists use a prenup to set the separate-versus-shared rule in advance.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Jul 28, 2026
• 05 Planning Prenups for Wealth Advisors: Your Book of Business, Deferred Comp, and RIA Equity The median personal financial advisor earned $102,140 in May 2024, but the wealth in a comp package sits in AUM-based pay, deferred comp, and equity, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Jul 28, 2026
• 06 Planning Prenups for Creative Professionals: Copyright, Licensing Income, and Freelance Earnings Under U.S. copyright law, most works created after 1978 are protected for the author's life plus 70 years, so creative work drafted during a marriage can generate income long after the marriage ends.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Jul 28, 2026
• 07 Planning Prenups and Tech Equity: Vesting Across the Wedding, 83(b) Elections, and Who Owns the Upside Under IRC Section 83(b), founders and employees have 30 days from grant to elect capital-gains treatment on restricted stock, a deadline the IRS does not extend, which is why equity timing shapes how a prenup should be written.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Jul 28, 2026
• 08 Planning Prenups for Attorneys: Partnership Equity, Your Capital Account, and Professional Goodwill The median annual wage for lawyers was $151,160 in May 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and much of an attorney's real wealth sits in partnership equity and deferred pay that default divorce law never anticipated.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Jul 28, 2026
• 09 Planning Prenups for Actors: Residuals, Right of Publicity, and Loan-Out Companies The median hourly wage for actors was $23.33 in May 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, income that arrives in irregular bursts a prenup can plan around.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Jul 27, 2026
• 10 Planning Prenups for Filmmakers: Residuals, Backend Points, and Your Production Company Film residuals and royalties from work created during a marriage are usually treated as marital property, even when checks arrive years after a project wraps, according to family-law practitioners applying state property rules.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Jul 27, 2026
• 11 Planning Prenups for Musicians: Royalties, Masters, Publishing, and the Band LLC Musicians and singers earned a median hourly wage of $42.45 in May 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and much of that income arrives in irregular waves that a prenup can help characterize as separate or marital.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Jul 27, 2026
• 12 Planning Prenups for Physicians The median 2025 medical school graduate carried about $216,659 in education debt, according to the AAMC, which is one of several reasons a prenup fits a physician's financial timeline.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Jul 28, 2026
• 13 Planning Bespoke prenup for complex assets: two independent attorneys, fully custom (2026) A comprehensive, fully custom prenup with independent counsel for each partner, built for couples with unvested equity, a business, a trust, or several interacting assets.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Aug 21, 2026
• 14 News Why I Did My Own Prenup With First, as a Lawyer Liz Federowicz, Esq., explains why she and her partner did their own prenup with First. They completed it online on their own schedule, each reviewed it with their own independent lawyer, and had it drafted to their state's law. Here's why the process made a conversation she dreaded feel clarifying.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Jul 21, 2026
• 15 Trends Do Prenups Cause Divorce? What the Research Actually Says No, prenups don't cause divorce. In The Free Press, Arthur Brooks argues that prenups and separate finances quietly erode a marriage, citing a 2026 study in Family Relations. That study is correlational, and its own author found no link among couples who communicate well. Meanwhile prenup adoption is climbing and the U.S. divorce rate has fallen about 40% since 2000.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Jul 11, 2026
• 16 Prenup Basics Prenups for Content Creators and Influencers: Who Owns the Channel, the Content, and the Income The U.S. creator economy is a multibillion-dollar market, and a prenup is how creators define who owns the channels, content, and income they built.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Jul 28, 2026
• 17 Education Prenup Tips for First-Time Homeowners: Down Payments, Family Gifts, and Who Keeps the Equity The typical first-time homebuyer is now 40 years old and buying at a record-low 21% share of the market, according to the National Association of Realtors' 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Jul 28, 2026
• 18 Education Prenups for Blended Families: Protecting Children’s Inheritance Alongside Your Will and Trust About 17% of U.S. children live in a blended family with a stepparent, stepsibling, or half sibling, according to Pew Research Center's 2026 analysis of Census Bureau data.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Jul 28, 2026
• 19 Law Demystified Do You Need Two Lawyers for a Prenup? No state requires two lawyers for a valid prenup, but one attorney cannot represent both partners, and independent counsel is the strongest protection there is.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Aug 21, 2026
• 20 Education What Will Happen to My Business if I Don’t Have a Prenup? Appreciation, Goodwill, and Commingling As of December 2025, an estimated 16.63 million Americans were self-employed, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and for most of them a business is the largest asset a divorce would touch.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Jul 28, 2026
• 21 Trends Navigating Marriage as an Entrepreneur: Protecting Your Business, Equity, and Founder Income Under California law, appreciation in a separately owned business driven by an owner's effort during marriage can become community property (Pereira v. Pereira, 1909).
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Jul 28, 2026
• 22 Trends Prenups for Athletes: Short Careers, Irregular Income, and NIL Deals The median wage for U.S. athletes and sports competitors was $70,280 in 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and most pro careers last well under six years.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Jul 28, 2026
• 23 Education What Makes a Prenup Enforceable? The Ironclad Checklist A prenup holds up when both partners disclosed fully, signed voluntarily with time to spare, had independent counsel, and met state formalities.
  Liz Federowicz, Esq. · Aug 21, 2026