TL;DR: A prenup sets which assets stay separate and which are shared, and modern couples now use it for crypto wallets, frozen embryos, pets, student debt, and creative royalties. According to Cerulli Associates (2024), $124 trillion in wealth will transfer through 2048. At First, 46% of agreements include at least one pet.
If you searched for what a prenup protects, you probably have one thing in mind. A wallet full of crypto you bought years before you met your partner. A song catalog. A patent. Student loans you would rather not share. Or a dog you cannot imagine living without. You are not looking for a lecture on property law. You want to know whether the thing you care about is covered, and how. You are also in good company: a 2026 Harris Poll conducted for Bloomberg found that 53% of engaged or married Americans under 45 said they had signed a prenup.
The short version: a prenup defines which assets and debts stay each partner's separate property and which become shared, and how they would be divided if the marriage ends. That framework has existed for a long time. What has changed is what people put inside it. The assets couples care about today, digital, creative, and deeply personal, sit awkwardly inside rules written for houses, bank accounts, and cars.
The timing matters, too. According to Cerulli Associates, $124 trillion in wealth will transfer through 2048, with $105 trillion flowing to heirs and $18 trillion to charity. More couples are marrying with, or expecting, inherited and transferred wealth than any generation before them. That reality is part of why the conversation around prenups has moved from taboo to ordinary planning.
That shift is discussed in a recent profile of First's founder and CEO, Libby Leffler, who is featured in Harvard Business School's alumni magazine in a piece titled "First Comes Love, Then Comes the Prenup". The through-line of the piece is that prenups have become a normal financial tool for a generation that thinks about assets differently. The profile frames the same wealth transfer slightly differently, citing $84.4 trillion moving from baby boomers and the Silent Generation over the next two decades. The two figures differ because they count different generations over different windows, and they describe the same shift.
From taboo to smart planning
A generation ago, raising the topic of a prenup felt like an accusation. Today it reads more like estate planning or buying life insurance: a practical step responsible people take before a big commitment. Part of that change is generational. Millennials and a growing share of Gen Z are marrying later, often after building careers, accounts, and portfolios of their own. When two people arrive at a marriage with real separate histories, defining what stays separate is common sense.
For Libby, the stigma was part of the appeal. "I love working in sort of taboo, almost stigmatized, categories," she told Harvard Business School's alumni magazine. "I think there are cool brands to be built there." Thinking about what Tampax did for menstruation and periods, and what Trojan did for conversations around sex, she wondered: "Why can't we be the ones who do this for that conversation around money?"
First was built for this moment. It helps couples set clear terms together, on their own timeline. No PDFs, no hourly rates, no back and forth with attorneys unless you want it. The profile notes that First's customers, mostly millennials and Gen Z digital natives, have dubbed the site "TurboTax for prenups." First currently serves 46 states plus D.C., and in the company's experience, women initiate about half of the agreements created on the platform. If you want the wider data picture before diving into specific assets, First's prenup statistics roundup collects it in one place.
Before founding First in 2024, Libby served as Sheryl Sandberg's chief of staff at Facebook and held executive roles at SoFi and Compass. Her background sits at the intersection of technology and personal finance, which is where many modern couples managing their assets live. Because First is a purpose-built digital service rather than a single law office, it has first-party insight on what real couples choose to include, from wallets to catalogs to pets.
What a prenup protects
At its core, a prenup does one job well: it defines which assets and debts stay separate property (each partner's own) and which become marital property (shared between you), and how everything would be divided if the marriage ends. Without a prenuptial agreement, a state's default rules decide that and the laws vary from state to state. Community property states generally treat most assets acquired during the marriage as jointly owned. Equitable distribution states divide marital property in a way a court considers fair, and "equitable" doesn't always mean "equal."
A prenup lets you set the rules you choose instead of inheriting the ones your state assigns. That can cover premarital savings, a business, an inheritance, retirement accounts, and the debt each partner brought in. It can also cover a category of assets the default rules were never designed to handle well. That is where a modern agreement earns its place; it lets you create a layer of protection designed for your situation instead of the government.
What assets and debts can prenups cover?
Property law was written around tangible, easy-to-value things. Modern couples own assets that are none of those things. Here is a scannable map of the ones that come up most, followed by a closer look at each.
| Asset | Why default rules handle it poorly | What a prenup can define |
|---|---|---|
| Crypto and self-custodied wallets | Hard to value, easy to move | Name specific wallets as separate; set how growth is treated |
| Frozen embryos | Legally unsettled; states differ | Note it needs independent counsel; some states legislate disposition |
| Pets | Historically treated as property | Assign ownership and care up front instead of leaving it to a court |
| Student debt | Can blur into a shared obligation | Keep premarital debt each partner's own responsibility |
| Intellectual property (patents, publications, song lyrics) | Royalties and appreciation are murky | Define the work as separate; address future royalties |
| Collectibles and season tickets | Sentimental and awkward to divide | Name who keeps them and how value is handled |
Cryptocurrency and self-custodied wallets
Crypto is the asset First hears about most from younger couples, and it is one the old rules handle poorly. There is no dedicated marital-property statute for digital assets. For tax purposes, the IRS treats digital assets as property, not currency, which means crypto is characterized under your state's ordinary property rules, the same rules written for houses and brokerage accounts.
That creates two practical problems. Crypto is easy to move, and it is hard to value at a fixed moment. A wallet you funded years before the marriage can be difficult to trace once transactions accumulate. A prenup can name specific wallets as separate property and set how any growth during the marriage is treated. It can also address tokens acquired during the marriage, staking rewards, and assets held in self-custody that no bank statement will ever list. The point is to write down, while both of you can see the whole picture, what belongs to whom.
Frozen embryos
This one is different in kind, and it deserves care. Frozen embryos are among the most legally unsettled assets a couple can hold, and the law is still evolving. States differ, and most have no statute directly on point. A handful do. In Arizona, under Arizona Revised Statutes 25-318.03, the court is directed to award frozen embryos to the spouse who intends to allow them to develop to birth. Other states resolve disputes through prior agreements, contract principles, or case-by-case balancing, and outcomes are far from uniform.
Because the law is unsettled and the subject is deeply personal, this is an area to approach carefully. If embryos or future fertility plans are part of your situation, consult independent legal counsel before addressing them in any agreement. A platform can help you organize the conversation, but disposition of embryos is a place where individualized legal advice matters more than a template.
Pets
For many couples, a pet is not a line item. It is family. The law has been slower to see it that way. Historically, courts treated a dog or cat as property, no different from a couch, and awarded the animal to whoever technically owned it. That is changing. Some states now direct courts to weigh a pet's care rather than treat it as furniture.
California is the clearest example. Under California Family Code 2605, a court can assign sole or joint ownership of a pet animal, taking into consideration the care of the pet animal. This is a meaningful shift from the old furniture rule. Still, not every state has such a provision, and even where one exists, leaving the decision to a judge means leaving it to someone who has never met your dog. A prenup can settle ownership and care in advance so it never reaches a courtroom. This shows up in the data: 46% of prenup agreements drafted using First include at least one pet. For many couples, it’s the first thing they want to talk about.
Student debt
Debt is the mirror image of assets, and it is easy to overlook. If one partner carries significant student loans into the marriage, default rules in some states can blur that obligation into a shared one over time, especially as payments are made from joint accounts. A prenup can state plainly that the debt each partner brought into the marriage stays that partner's responsibility. It can also address how debt taken on during the marriage is handled, whether it is a shared cost or the borrowing partner's own. This keeps one person's loans from quietly becoming a joint burden.
Intellectual property and creative work
Creative and inventive work is one of the trickiest categories in property division, because the value often arrives later. A patent, a book, or a song catalog might be worth little at the wedding and a great deal a decade in. Royalties earned during the marriage, and any increase in the work's value, can be murky under default rules. A prenup can define a patent, publication, or song catalog as separate property and address how future royalties and appreciation are treated. First customers have used agreements to protect patents, publications, and song lyrics. If your creative work is central to your finances, decide up front how it will be treated rather than litigating it after the fact.
Collectibles and season tickets
Then there are the assets that are hard to divide because they mean something. A vinyl collection built over twenty years. Grandmother's heirloom jewelry. Courtside season tickets passed down or hard-won. These items are often sentimental and awkward to split, and a court has no good way to honor what they represent. A prenup can name who keeps them and set how their value is accounted for, so the emotionally loaded objects are handled by the two of you rather than by a stranger applying a formula.
Three things you don't need to re-solve here
Three categories deserve more depth based on how often they come up at First.
If you are a creator, influencer, or online personality, your brand, channels, and content library are assets in their own right, with their own valuation and licensing wrinkles. First covers them in depth in its guide to prenups for content creators and influencers.
If you hold startup equity, options, or a founder's stake, the vesting schedules and appreciation questions get specific fast. First's post on prenups for AI and tech equity walks through how to handle equity that may be worth little today and a great deal later.
And if inherited or transferred wealth is part of your picture, which for a large share of couples it increasingly is, First's guide on how a prenup can help secure your inheritance is the place to start.
Optimism bias and why disclosure is a key part of enforceability
Here’s the quiet obstacle behind every prenup conversation. As Libby told Harvard Business School's alumni bulletin, "Everyone has this optimism bias. Nobody enters into a marriage thinking or certainly hoping that it's going to break up." That optimism is a good thing. It is also the reason many couples never write down what would happen if the unlikely case arrived.
The mechanic that turns a prenup from a document into a durable agreement is full financial disclosure. Both partners lay out what they own and owe, fully and completely, before signing. An agreement built on incomplete disclosure is vulnerable; courts can set aside prenups where one partner hid assets or was not given a fair picture. Disclosure is also the part that tends to help couples most, because it forces the money conversation many put off for years. First walks through it in detail in why full financial disclosure is important for a prenup. Setting terms early, with both partners fully informed and unhurried, is what makes the whole thing hold.
Who's doing this now
The people creating prenups today are not who the stereotype suggests. A 2026 Harris Poll conducted for Bloomberg found that 53% of engaged or married Americans under 45 said they had signed a prenup, the same figure the alumni magazine profile uses to show how quickly this became ordinary. They are dual-career couples in their thirties, remarrying professionals blending families and finances, and a rising share of Gen Z treating a prenup as routine adulting, among others. As Libby put it, "You get your Costco membership, you get a mammogram, you get a prenup." It has moved into the category of smart, sensible things responsible people do. She expects that to keep going: "I am convinced this is on the path to becoming as obvious as anything else that we do in our lives."
The generational picture is shifting in another way, too. Where parents once pushed a reluctant couple toward a prenup, adult children now bring their own parents to First when those parents remarry later in life. In Libby’s words, "the script has flipped." She added that "we are seeing adult children bring their parents to us," often professionals in their fifties or sixties. "We have a lot of people who come to us because they didn't have a prenup the first time around," she said. Women, in particular, are increasingly the ones initiating the conversation, a shift First explores in why women get prenups as a power move. The common thread is people wanting clarity on their own terms, before marriage blurs the lines, and opting-out of one-size-fits-all rules from each state. This is what can be called marrying smart.
Frequently asked questions
What does a prenup protect?
A prenup defines which assets and debts stay each partner's separate property and which become shared, and how they would be divided if the marriage ends. That can cover premarital savings, a business, inheritances, crypto, intellectual property, and debt each partner brought in. It sets the rules you choose instead of your state's defaults.
Can a prenup protect cryptocurrency?
Yes. There is no special marital-property law for digital assets, so crypto is characterized under your state's ordinary property rules. A prenup can name specific wallets as separate property and set how any growth is treated, which matters because crypto is easy to move and hard to value at divorce.
Who gets the pet in a divorce?
It depends on your state. In California, Family Code 2605 lets a court assign sole or joint ownership of a pet, taking the animal's care into account rather than treating it as plain property. A prenup can settle this in advance so it never reaches a judge.
Can a prenup keep student debt separate?
Yes. A prenup can state that the debt each partner brought into the marriage stays that partner's responsibility, and it can address how debt taken on during the marriage is handled. This keeps one partner's loans from becoming a shared obligation by default.
Does a prenup cover intellectual property like song lyrics or patents?
It can. A prenup can define a patent, publication, or song catalog as separate property, and it can address how future royalties and any increase in the work's value are treated. First customers have used agreements to protect patents, publications, and song lyrics, which often gain most of their value after the wedding.
What happens to frozen embryos in a divorce?
This area is legally unsettled and states differ. Some, like Arizona, have statutes directing how courts handle embryo disposition, while most states have no statute on point and resolve disputes case by case. Because the law is evolving and the subject is deeply personal, couples should consult independent legal counsel before addressing embryos in any agreement.
A calmer way to start
Most of the assets in this post have one thing in common: they are easier to sort out while both partners are calm, informed, and on the same side of the table. A wallet, a catalog, a beloved dog. These are worth a conversation before marriage, not a dispute after it. It is close to what Libby says customers tell her: "What most people say verbatim to us is: 'God forbid I ever have to use this. But I think I will be really glad that we did it.'"
If a modern asset is on your mind, First's Self-Serve package offers a guided way to set these terms together, on your own timeline. You decide what stays separate, what you share, and how the assets the old rules never anticipated get handled. The goal is not urgency. It is a clearer conversation and the peace of mind that comes with having had it.
Because state laws differ, especially on pets and frozen embryos, couples should consult independent legal counsel for their specific situation.
Methodology
These figures are drawn from Cerulli Associates' 2024 U.S. High-Net-Worth and Ultra-High-Net-Worth Markets report, covering projected wealth transfers through 2048, and from First's own platform data on the assets customers include in their agreements. Pet and embryo rules are drawn directly from the cited state statutes. First's internal figures reflect agreements created on First's platform since its 2024 launch.
Sources
- Cerulli Anticipates $124 Trillion in Wealth Will Transfer Through 2048: Cerulli Associates, 2024, wealth-transfer projection cited in the opener.
- California Family Code 2605: state statute allowing courts to assign sole or joint pet ownership considering the animal's care.
- Arizona Revised Statutes 25-318.03: Arizona statute directing embryo disposition to the spouse intending to allow development to birth.
- IRS Digital Assets Guidance: confirms digital assets are treated as property, not currency, for U.S. tax purposes.
- Young Couples Are Driving a Prenup Boom: Bloomberg, 2026, Harris Poll finding that 53% of engaged or married Americans under 45 have signed a prenup.
- First Comes Love, Then Comes the Prenup: Harvard Business School alumni magazine, 2026, profile of First founder and CEO Libby Leffler.
First is not a law firm. The information and tools provided by First on this site are not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney.
