Learn: Planning

Strategic guidance for effective prenup planning.

56 articles

01 Planning Before the baby shower: the registry no one talks about You will register for a stroller, a monitor, and a wipe warmer; the decisions that shape your first year as parents never make the list.
Libby Leffler Sep 25, 2026
02 Planning Prenup With Kids From a Previous Relationship: Protecting Their Inheritance A prenup with kids from a previous relationship keeps a child's inheritance intact, and 17% of U.S. children live in a blended family (Pew, 2026).
Adam Hollander Sep 16, 2026
03 Planning Prenups and Estate Planning: How a Prenup Works With Your Will, Trust, and Beneficiaries A prenup and estate planning do different jobs: the prenup defines what you own, while your will, trust, and beneficiary forms decide where it goes at death.
Sarah Kauffman Sep 16, 2026
04 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
05 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
06 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
07 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
08 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
09 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
10 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
11 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
12 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
13 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
14 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
15 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
16 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
17 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
18 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
19 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
20 Planning Can Business Partners Be Affected When a Co-Owner Marries Without a Prenup? The U.S. Census Bureau counted 5.58 million small employer firms in 2023, and a co-owner's divorce has the potential pull any of them into court over ownership and valuation.
Diego Tramontin Jul 23, 2026
21 Planning The Online Prenup Buyer's Guide (2026) An online prenup is a premarital agreement built through a guided digital process. Costs, state rules, what to include, and when attorney review matters.
Libby Leffler Jul 23, 2026
22 Planning How a Prenup Handles a Marriage Where One Partner Wants to Stay Home About 26% of mothers and 7% of fathers are stay-at-home parents, according to a 2023 Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data, and a prenup is how couples can plan for that single-income chapter in advance.
Diego Tramontin Jul 20, 2026
23 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. Sep 3, 2026
24 Planning What Is the Best Online Prenup Service? (2026) The best online prenup service is the one that meets your state's enforceability rules. Five criteria to judge any platform, plus 2026 flat-fee prices.
Sarah Kauffman Aug 21, 2026
25 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 Sep 4, 2026
26 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
27 Planning Do Middle-Income Couples Need a Prenup? Debt and Asset Clarity Prenups are a planning tool at any income. With U.S. household debt at a record $18.8 trillion, here is what clarity on debts and everyday assets buys you.
Diego Tramontin Aug 21, 2026
28 Planning Can a Prenup Be Unfair on Purpose? What a 90/10 Split Tells You About Fairness Limits A prenup can favor one partner without being invalid. Under the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act, the bigger enforcement risks are lack of voluntary consent, unconscionability at signing, and inadequate financial disclosure.
Diego Tramontin Jul 1, 2026
29 Planning A Prenup as a Financial Planning Tool (2026): Disclosure, Shared Goals, and the Money Conversation A prenup is a financial planning tool, not just a divorce document. The process requires full disclosure of assets, debts, and income, and a real money talk which can bring greater financial alignment to couples heading into marriage.
Adam Hollander Jun 24, 2026
30 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
31 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
32 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
33 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
34 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
35 Planning Prenups for Tech Workers: How to Protect Stock Options, RSUs, and Pre-IPO Equity A prenup lets tech workers and startup founders define how stock options, RSUs, ESPP shares, and pre-IPO equity are treated in divorce, before any of it vests or gets divided by default state law.
Libby Leffler May 27, 2026
36 Planning Prenup Template vs. a Real Prenup: What You Actually Get With a Free Form (And What You Don't) Free prenup templates give you a fillable PDF, but not state-law compliance, financial disclosure, or the procedural safeguards a court will require to enforce it.
Libby Leffler Jul 23, 2026
37 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
38 Planning What Should a Woman Ask for in a Prenup? What a woman should protect in a prenup depends on her financial position, not gender stereotypes. Whether she has more assets, fewer, or equal footing, a prenup lets her define the terms around premarital property, spousal support, career sacrifice, and inheritance before the wedding, not during a divorce. Today's agreements are built to protect both partners, fairly.
Libby Leffler May 20, 2026
39 Planning 5 Conversations Every Couple Must Have Ready to build a strong marriage foundation? Explore five key money and life conversations every couple should have, plus how a prenup with First can help.
First Editorial Team Feb 3, 2026
40 Planning Use February To Plan June: Use Winter To Get Ready for Your Summer Wedding Use the winter months to plan your dream summer wedding. From budgeting and venue scouting to prenups with First, here’s how to stay ahead.
First Editorial Team Feb 3, 2026
41 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
42 Planning Prenups for Changemakers Creating a better world starts with protecting yourself. Learn how prenups safeguard changemakers and their missions.
First Editorial Team Jul 4, 2025
43 Planning How Prenups Safeguard Sentimental Treasures When it comes to your belongings, some possessions are worth far more than their price tag.
First Editorial Team Jun 25, 2025
44 Planning Why Is State Law So Confusing? State prenup laws are like solving a Rubik's Cube blindfolded. First untangles the legal complexity so you can focus on love.
First Editorial Team Jun 25, 2025
45 Planning 5 Critical Factors to Consider When Choosing an Attorney Find the right lawyer with these key tips for selecting the best legal representation for your specific needs.
First Editorial Team Feb 4, 2025
46 Planning Can I Get a Prenup if my Partner Lives in Another State? Draft your prenup according to the state where you'll reside after marriage, regardless of current locations.
First Editorial Team Jan 21, 2025
47 Planning A Prenup Checklist Open communication, legal guidance, and comprehensive agreements ensure your prenup reflects shared values and commitments.
First Editorial Team Apr 2, 2024
48 Planning How long does it take to get a prenup? If your wedding is 90, 30, 14, or even 7 days away, a legally sound prenup is still within reach, but only if you move now and understand exactly what each window allows.
Libby Leffler Aug 21, 2026
49 Planning The Top States for Getting a Prenup Here are the top five states known for their favorable treatment of prenups.
First Editorial Team Jun 9, 2026
50 Planning Do We Need a Prenup if We Both Have Wills? While having a will is a crucial aspect of estate planning, it's not the only tool couples should consider for securing their finances.
First Editorial Team Mar 14, 2024
51 Planning Do I need a Lawyer to Get a Prenup in California? One of the main reasons for involving a lawyer is to ensure that your prenup is enforceable.
First Editorial Team Mar 13, 2024
52 Planning How do I know if a prenup is right for me? Prenups aren't just for the rich and famous—anyone planning for the future and making smart money moves can benefit.
First Editorial Team Mar 13, 2024
53 Planning 8 things you aren't discussing before your wedding Here are eight things you probably aren't discussing with your partner before the big day.
First Editorial Team Mar 13, 2024
54 Planning What If My Partner Doesn't Want to Get a Prenup? Have open, honest conversations about prenup concerns and motivations before diving into the legal details.
First Editorial Team Mar 13, 2024
55 Planning How To Bring Up Prenups With Your Partner Approach prenup conversations with sensitivity, honesty, and empathy for constructive discussions and mutual decisions.
First Editorial Team Mar 7, 2024
56 Planning How do I make a prenuptial agreement in California? Creating a prenup has never been simpler. With First, creating a prenup is as easy as answering a few questions online.
First Editorial Team Feb 27, 2024