Duress
Improper pressure that overcomes a person's free will, rendering their consent legally ineffective. A common ground for invalidating prenups.
Duress in prenup law usually means signing under pressure that left no real choice — most often an explicit or implicit "sign or no wedding" ultimatum, especially close to the wedding date. Threats to family, public humiliation, or significant financial harm can also constitute duress.
Not every kind of pressure counts. Reluctance to sign, family input, time constraints from wedding planning — none of these by themselves are duress. The threshold is higher: pressure must be improper and severe enough to overcome a reasonable person's free will.
Related terms
- Voluntariness — The requirement that both spouses signed the prenup of their own free will, without fraud, duress, coercion, or undue influence.
- Seven-Day Rule — California's statutory requirement that at least seven calendar days pass between presenting the final prenup and signing it. Agreements signed inside the window are automatically unenforceable.
- Unconscionability — A judicial doctrine that allows courts to refuse to enforce contracts that are shockingly unfair. The second pillar (with voluntariness) of prenup invalidation.
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