Sarah Kauffman

Sarah is First's Founding Head of Operations and Marketing

35 articles

01 Planning Prenup for Finance Professionals Bonuses accounted for roughly 42% of securities-industry wages, according to the New York State Comptroller's 2026 estimate, which means a finance professional's total pay is not what a paycheck alone shows. Here's how finance professionals can handle bonuses plus options, carry, and more in their prenup.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 28, 2026
02 Planning Prenuptial Agreements in Wisconsin: The Only Other Community Property State You Haven't Heard About Wisconsin is one of nine community property states, and its Marital Property Act treats most assets acquired during marriage as jointly owned unless a prenup under Wis. Stat. § 766.58 says otherwise.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 26, 2026
03 Planning Prenuptial Agreements in Tennessee: Formation Rules, Marital Property, and How to Get Started Under Tennessee Code § 36-3-501, a prenup is binding if a court finds it was entered freely, knowledgeably, in good faith, and without duress.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 26, 2026
04 Law Demystified Prenup vs. Cohabitation Agreement vs. Domestic Partnership: Which Applies If You're Not Married Yet A prenup only takes effect once a couple marries; unmarried couples who want something enforceable now use a cohabitation agreement instead, since marriage is the line that separates the two documents.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 26, 2026
05 Planning Financial Advisors Now Recommend Prenups: What It Means When Planning Raises the Topic A Harris Poll conducted for Bloomberg found that 53% of engaged or married Americans under age 45 said they had signed a prenup as of May 2026, and advisors are increasingly raising the topic as routine financial planning.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 24, 2026
06 Trends Reality TV and the Prenup Conversation: Why It Still Feels Like a Commitment Test (and How to Reframe It) As of 2026, 53% of U.S. couple under age 45 have signed a prenup, up from 42% a year earlier, according to a Harris Poll reported by Axios. However, the emotion around asking has moved slower than the numbers.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 21, 2026
07 Planning Best Online Prenup Services (2026): What to Look For (and What to Avoid) When Choosing a Platform The best online prenup service is the one that meets your state's enforceability rules, not the cheapest. Here's the framework to judge any platform.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 31, 2026
08 Planning DIY Prenup vs. Attorney-Reviewed vs. Guided Online: What Each Path Costs You in Time and Enforceability Traditional two-attorney prenups run roughly $3,000 to $10,000 per couple or more, while flat-fee guided online platforms start around $649 with notarization, according to the 2025 Clio Legal Trends Report and First's published pricing.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 23, 2026
09 Law Demystified Do Prenups Actually Work? What Enforceable Really Means in Practice Prenuptial agreements are recognized in all 50 states and D.C., and courts routinely uphold them when they are properly drafted, finances are fully disclosed, and are signed without pressure. This is why 53% of engaged and married couples under age 45 have signed prenups, according to a May 2026 Harris Poll conducted for Bloomberg.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 21, 2026
10 Law Demystified Prenups for Couples in a Significant Income Gap: Texas Edition Texas is one of nine community property states, meaning income earned during marriage is presumed jointly owned unless a prenup, under Texas Family Code Chapter 4, says otherwise.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 8, 2026
11 Law Demystified Does a Prenup Have to Be Filed With Your Marriage License? Where a Prenup Actually Lives A prenup is a private contract that becomes effective upon marriage under the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act; it is not filed with your marriage license or with any court to be valid.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 5, 2026
12 News Half of U.S. Adults Now Say They'd Sign a Prenup: What the Attitude Shift Does and Doesn't Mean Roughly 50% of U.S. adults said they support the use of prenups, according to a 2023 Harris Poll for Axios, up from 42% the year before, though only about 1 in 5 married couples has one.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 4, 2026
13 Planning Why Viral Prenup Advice on TikTok Can Steer You Wrong: What #PrenupTalk Leaves Out Social media has made prenups a mainstream conversation. But viral prenup advice can be misleading because enforceability depends on state-specific rules, full financial disclosure, voluntary signing, timing requirements, and limits such as the inability to waive child support or predetermine custody.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 1, 2026
14 Prenup Basics What Happens to Premarital Assets That Disappear During Marriage? A Prenup Gap Explained Under many states’ default divorce-property rules, a separate-property claim often requires tracing the asset to a separate source; if it is spent, retitled, or commingled beyond tracing, the claim may be lost or reduced. A well-drafted prenup defines what remains separate and how commingling, proceeds, substitutions, and appreciation are treated, subject to governing state law.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 14, 2026
15 Planning How to Store Your Prenup After It's Signed: Soft Copies, Hard Copies, and Redundancy A prenup does not need to be filed with any court to be valid; it is a private contract you store yourself, ideally using the 3-2-1 backup rule popularized by photographer Peter Krogh.
Sarah Kauffman Jun 22, 2026
16 Law Demystified Does It Matter Where You Sign Your Prenup? How Jurisdiction Affects Enforceability Prenups are recognized in all 50 states and D.C., but only 29 states plus D.C. have adopted the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act, so where you sign can shape how your agreement is enforced. For transferability across states, the biggest practical safeguards are a clear choice-of-law clause, full financial disclosure, adequate time before signing, voluntary execution, and separate legal counsel where advisable or required.
Sarah Kauffman Jun 24, 2026
17 Law Demystified When No Prenup Exists: What State Default Law Actually Decides for You Without a prenup, 41 states divide marital property by "equitable distribution" and nine use community property, according to the Uniform Law Commission and state family codes. Your state's default rules decide for you.
Sarah Kauffman Jun 24, 2026
18 Planning Do Prenups Reduce Conflict During a Divorce? What the Data Shows A prenup can lower divorce conflict by settling asset and debt questions in advance, while both partners are cooperative and fully informed, leaving fewer open issues for a court to decide later. But the prenup process of going through full financial disclosure and aligning on money matters early can also strengthen a couple for the future.
Sarah Kauffman Jun 24, 2026
19 Law Demystified Is a Prenup a "Living Document"? When and Why Couples Revisit an Agreement After Marriage A prenup is not set in stone: under the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act, a signed prenup can be amended or revoked after marriage by a written agreement signed by both parties.
Sarah Kauffman Jun 24, 2026
20 Planning Massachusetts Prenuptial Agreements: What the Law Requires, and How to Get Two Independent Attorneys Without the Law Firm Price Tag Getting a prenup in Massachusetts means working with the state's two-stage fairness test: first to determine whether it was valid, fair, and reasonable when signed, and later to determine whether enforcing it at divorce would be unconscionable given circumstances that developed during the marriage.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 1, 2026
21 News The New Power Move: Why Half of All Prenups Are Now Initiated by Women Half of all prenups at First are now initiated by women. First founder and CEO Libby Leffler joined the HumanizeHer podcast to discuss why the prenup has become a power move, what couples protect beyond money, and what an online prenup costs.
Sarah Kauffman Jun 12, 2026
22 Planning Prenup for Couples Where One Partner Has Significant Debt: How to Protect Yourself Without Punishing Your Partner Americans hold $1.28 trillion in credit card debt and $1.66 trillion in student loans, part of a record $18.8 trillion in household debt, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and a prenup is the cleanest way for one partner's balance to stay theirs.
Sarah Kauffman Jun 8, 2026
23 Planning Prenup Lawyer Near Me: What You're Actually Paying For in 2026 Family law attorneys typically charge $2,500 to $10,000+ per couple to draft a prenup, with hourly billing driving most of the cost variance.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 17, 2026
24 Planning Should You Buy a Home Before or After Getting Married? How a Prenup Changes the Answer Buying a home before the wedding can speed up equity-building, but without a prenup, separate-property contributions often get tangled when the marriage begins.
Sarah Kauffman May 20, 2026
25 Trends Prenup for HENRY Couples: How High Earners (Not Rich Yet) Should Think About Financial Protection Before Marriage (2026) If you're a high-income couple with growing equity comp, big debts, and a stay-at-home-parent decision on the horizon, a prenup helps you plan now for the wealth you're still building.
Sarah Kauffman May 27, 2026
26 Planning How to Get a Prenup in Texas: Step-by-Step Process, Costs, and Community Property Rules (2026) In Texas, a community property state, a prenuptial agreement lets you and your partner decide how your finances work, instead of letting state law decide for you. Updated for 2026.
Sarah Kauffman May 31, 2026
27 Education Prenup for Military Couples (2026): How to Handle a Military Pension, BAH, and Deployment in Your Agreement Under the federal Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act (10 U.S.C. §1408), state courts can treat military retired pay as marital property, which a well-drafted prenup can address in advance.
Sarah Kauffman Jun 11, 2026
28 Law Demystified Prenups and Inheritance: How to Keep What You Inherit (or Expect to Inherit) Separate From Marital Property Inheritances are usually classified as separate property by default, but commingling during marriage can quietly convert them into marital property a court will divide in a divorce.
Sarah Kauffman Jun 5, 2026
29 Trends Should You Let AI Write Your Prenup? What ChatGPT and Other AI Tools Get Wrong AI can explain prenup concepts and draft generic clauses, but it consistently misses the state-specific formalities that determine whether your agreement is enforceable.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 14, 2026
30 Education How to Get a Prenup in Washington State: Community Property, No Waiting Period, and What It Costs (2026) Washington is one of nine community property states, meaning everything earned during your marriage is jointly owned by default. Updated for 2026.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 14, 2026
31 Education Prenuptial Agreements in Arizona: A Step-by-Step Guide for Couples in a Community Property State (2026) Arizona prenups must be in writing, signed voluntarily by both parties, and backed by fair financial disclosure under the state's Uniform Premarital Agreement Act. Updated for 2026.
Sarah Kauffman May 31, 2026
32 Prenup Basics Prenup in New York: Costs, Requirements, and How to Get One Without a $10,000 Lawyer Bill (2026) Under New York Domestic Relations Law §236(B)(3), a prenup must be in writing, signed by both parties, and acknowledged in the same manner required for a deed to be recorded, and traditional NYC attorney drafting typically runs $5,000 to $10,000 per couple.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 14, 2026
33 Law Demystified State-by-State: How Prenuptial Agreements Vary Across America (2026 Guide) Prenuptial agreement laws differ in every state. Here's a plain-language tour of UPAA adoption, property regimes, and the rules that actually shape your prenup in each state.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 23, 2026
34 Education Prenuptial Agreements in California: The 7-Day Rule, Community Property, and What It Costs (2026) California prenups must follow a strict 7-day delivery rule, full financial disclosure, and community property carve-outs.
Sarah Kauffman Jul 11, 2026
35 Law Demystified The Legal Rights and Responsibilities of Marriage A U.S. Government Accountability Office report identified 1,138 federal statutory provisions in which marital status determines benefits, rights, and privileges, as of December 31, 2003.
Sarah Kauffman Jun 20, 2026