Prenuptial Agreement Template: What Real Attorneys Use

A prenuptial agreement template is the skeleton of the document — the sections an attorney fills in for your specific situation. The skeleton is the easy part. The procedural work that makes it enforceable is the hard part. Here's what's in a real template, and why downloading one yourself is the wrong move.

What does a prenuptial agreement template contain? The 10 sections

1. Recitals. Names of the parties, the upcoming wedding date, statement of intent to marry, statement that each has read and understood the agreement.
2. Financial disclosure schedules. Two schedules attached as exhibits — one per spouse — listing every asset, debt, and income source with values and as-of dates. Often sworn under penalty of perjury.
3. Separate property identification. What each spouse owned before the marriage that will remain separate during and after. Cross-references the schedules.
4. Marital property rules. What counts as marital property, how it's divided on divorce. The default rule is your state's law; the prenup overrides where specified.
5. Debt allocation. Who's responsible for pre-marital debts; who's responsible for post-marital debts; what happens to jointly-incurred debts.
6. Spousal support. Waiver, limitation, or schedule. Subject to state-law limits — some states bar full waivers, all states bar unconscionable ones.
7. Estate and inheritance handling. How inheritance received during marriage is treated. How appreciation on separate property is treated. Often interacts with the parties' wills.
8. Business interests (if applicable). Treatment of business ownership, appreciation, and the non-owner spouse's claims. Frequently the most-customized section.
9. Choice of law + dispute resolution. Which state's law governs interpretation, where any litigation happens, whether disputes go to arbitration first.
10. Boilerplate. Severability, modification rules, integration clause, no oral modification.

What's NOT in a real template

The disclosure schedules. The voluntariness documentation. The state-specific signing logistics. The notarization in states that require it. The waiver of independent counsel in California, properly worded. The acknowledgment block in New York.

A template is a starting document. A real prenup is the document plus the procedural record around it — and the record is what decides whether courts will enforce it.

Why free prenup templates fail in court

Three real reasons:

1. Inadequate disclosure. A template ships with blank schedules. Users fill them in vaguely ("various accounts") or skip them entirely. Inadequate disclosure is the single most common reason courts refuse to enforce a prenup.
2. No documented voluntariness. When was the agreement first presented? How many drafts went back and forth? When was the final version signed? A real engagement produces a paper trail; a template doesn't.
3. State procedural rules. California requires either independent counsel for both spouses or a written waiver. New York requires the agreement be acknowledged with deed-recording formalities. Minnesota requires two witnesses. Templates rarely call these out, and users miss them.

The three honest paths

In order of cost:

1. Attorney-reviewed online service ($599–$749). LegalZoom and HelloPrenup. State-customized template plus review by a lawyer licensed in your state. Reasonable for simple cases. Read our online prenup analysis.
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2. Full attorney engagement ($1,500–$15,000+). Both spouses with their own family law attorneys. Required for anything complex — business, multi-state property, expected inheritance, asymmetric finances. See the state-by-state cost guide.
3. Free DIY template. The cheapest option upfront and the most expensive option in the long run if the agreement is challenged. We don't recommend it for any real-world prenup.

If you're determined to use a template anyway

At minimum: each spouse should produce sworn financial disclosure schedules with specific values; sign at least 30 days before the wedding; meet whatever procedural requirements your state imposes (notarization, witnesses, acknowledgment); and have each side review with their own attorney for at least one hour of consult. Even with those, the agreement is more vulnerable than an attorney-drafted one — but those four steps alone close most of the gap.