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Law Demystified Oct 22, 2026
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.
Planning Oct 10, 2026
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.
Trends Oct 12, 2026
The Prenup Report (2026): Costs, Couples, and the Shift Toward Modern Agreements
A data-driven roundup of key prenup statistics: how common prenups are in 2026, what they cost, and how marriage and divorce trends are reshaping modern agreements.
All articles
- 91 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
- 92 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
- 93 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
- 94 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
- 95 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
- 96 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
- 97 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
- 98 Planning Prenuptial Agreements in Wisconsin: The Only Other Community Property State You Haven't Heard About Wisconsin is a community property state in all but name: its Marital Property Act treats most assets acquired during marriage as jointly owned unless a prenup under Wis. Stat. § 766.58 says otherwise. Liz Federowicz, Esq. Jul 26, 2026
- 99 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. Adam Hollander Jul 26, 2026
- 100 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
- 101 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
- 102 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. Liz Federowicz, Esq. Jul 23, 2026
- 103 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
- 104 Education How Lifestyle and Conduct Clauses Actually Hold Up: Weight, Social Media, and Behavior Provisions Lifestyle clauses on weight, social media, or cheating are the hardest prenup terms to enforce. Whether one holds up depends on your state and the drafting. Liz Federowicz, Esq. Jul 20, 2026
- 105 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
- 106 Planning How a Prenup Protects Startup Equity, Trusts and Business Interests (2026) What a prenup for complex finances covers: unvested equity and RSUs, future grants, family trusts, business growth, disclosure and independent counsel. Liz Federowicz, Esq. Oct 11, 2026
- 107 Planning Best Online Prenup Services Compared (2026) Seven online prenup services compared on what you get, how the process works for the two of you, help along the way, ratings, and what each price leaves out. Sarah Kauffman Oct 18, 2026
- 108 Law Demystified Can You Put a Confidentiality or Privacy Clause in a Prenup? What NDAs and Carve-Outs Actually Do A prenup can include a confidentiality clause, an NDA-style privacy provision, or an intellectual-property carve-out, but under N.Y. Dom. Rel. Law § 236(B)(3) and comparable state contract rules, a court decides case-by-case whether each holds. Liz Federowicz, Esq. Jul 14, 2026
- 109 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
- 110 Prenup Basics How Prenups Handle Irregular and IP Income: Lessons From Athlete and Creator Contracts, Scaled Down About 11.9 million U.S. workers, or 7.4% of employment, are independent contractors with irregular income, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2023), and a prenup lets couples define how that lumpy income is treated. Adam Hollander Jul 14, 2026
- 111 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
- 112 Trends Who Gets a Prenup? A Look Inside First's Data (2026) As of May 2026, 53% of engaged or married Americans under 45 had signed a prenup, according to a Harris Poll for Bloomberg. First's own data fills in a fuller portrait of the couples behind that shift: their age, what they earn, and how they already handle money together. Libby Leffler Jul 17, 2026
- 113 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
- 114 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
- 115 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
- 116 Law Demystified Can a Prenup Decide Who's the Primary Caregiver? What Custody Clauses Can and Can't Do A prenup cannot decide child custody or who becomes the primary caregiver; under the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act, courts decide those questions at divorce based on the child's best interests. Liz Federowicz, Esq. Jul 7, 2026
- 117 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
- 118 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
- 119 Law Demystified Why Last Minute Prenups Get Challenged: Timing, Duress, and How Early to Start A last-minute prenup is not automatically invalid, but it is more vulnerable to challenge. Courts generally look at whether both people signed voluntarily, had enough time to review the agreement, received proper financial disclosure, and followed state-specific rules. Liz Federowicz, Esq. Jul 3, 2026
- 120 Education Prenups and Pre-IPO Equity in California: How RSUs, Vesting Cliffs, and Cap Tables Are Treated In California, RSUs, stock options, and founder equity that vest during marriage may be treated as community property in divorce. A California prenup can set a clearer rule for existing and future equity compensation before default property-division formulas apply. Adam Hollander Jul 11, 2026