Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements in Minnesota

A prenuptial agreement, which is referred to as an antenuptial agreement in Minnesota, is a contract that two individuals enter into prior to getting married. A postnuptial agreement is a contract that is entered into after two individuals have already gotten married. For a prenuptial agreement to be valid, each of the individuals must fully disclose all of his or her property and income to the other individual, and each must have an opportunity to consult with an attorney of that individuals choice regarding the prenuptial agreement. For a postnuptial agreement to be valid, each of the spouses must actually be represented by separate attorneys. It is good practice for each of the individuals to a prenuptial agreement to actually have separate attorneys as well, to ensure that the document will be fair and enforceable. Both prenuptial agreements and postnuptial agreements must be signed in the presence of two witnesses and must be notarized. If these formalities are not followed, the prenuptial or postnuptial agreement is not valid.

Possible Provisions in Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements

Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements can address several issues between the two individuals or may be limited to a single issue.

Pre- and postnuptial agreements can include:

• What property, if any, will remain non-marital

• Spousal maintenance (alimony), including a proposed schedule and amounts

  • For example, if the parties get divorced within the first five years of marriage, there would be no spousal maintenance, but if they get divorced between five and ten years of marriage, a spouse may be entitled to $1,000 per month in spousal maintenance for a period of three years

• Rights in the event of one spouse’s death, such as beneficiary designations

Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements cannot address issues of child support, child custody, or parenting time.