A New York prenuptial agreement is a written contract a couple signs before marrying. It sets out how their property, debts, and spousal support are handled if the marriage ends. New York allows the same agreement before or during the marriage, and a court enforces it in a matrimonial action once it meets the signing rules in the Domestic Relations Law.[1]
The agreement can divide separate and marital property, set the amount and duration of maintenance, and waive the right to elect against the provisions of a will. It can also address children, though those terms stay subject to Section 240 of the same article.[1] Use a prenuptial agreement template to put the terms in the form New York expects.
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Prenuptial agreements go by several names. People call it a prenup, a premarital agreement, or an antenuptial agreement. New York's statute uses none of them and simply refers to an agreement by the parties made before or during the marriage.[1]
New York's rules for prenuptial agreements sit in Section 236(B)(3) of the Domestic Relations Law. That section makes an agreement valid and enforceable in a matrimonial action when three conditions are met. The agreement must be in writing, both parties must have subscribed it, and it must be acknowledged or proven in the manner required to entitle a deed to be recorded.[1]
An agreement by the parties, made before or during the marriage, shall be valid and enforceable in a matrimonial action if such agreement is in writing, subscribed by the parties, and acknowledged or proven in the manner required to entitle a deed to be recorded.
Three formalities decide whether the prenup holds up, and all three come from the same sentence of the statute.[1]
New York adds an option worth knowing about. An acknowledgment of an agreement made before marriage may be executed before any person authorized to solemnize a marriage, so the officiant running the wedding can take it.[1]
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The statute covers an agreement made before or during the marriage.[1] A couple who did not sign before the wedding can still sign a postnuptial agreement afterwards.
Maintenance terms face an extra test. They must be fair and reasonable at the time the agreement is made, and they must not be unconscionable when the final judgment is entered.[1]
Courts also look past the paperwork at the financial and legal circumstances of the signing. New York family law practitioners point to four factors that decide whether prenuptial agreements survive a challenge:
A New York court can decline to apply a prenup, or strike out part of it. These are the usual grounds:
A prenup replaces New York's default rules with the couple's own terms for the ownership, division or distribution of separate and marital property.[1] Without one, a court classifies what each spouse owns and divides the shared portion itself.
A New York prenuptial agreement may cover four things under Section 236(B)(3): estate rights, property, spousal maintenance, and children. Estate clauses can waive the right to elect against a will. Property clauses set out the ownership, division or distribution of separate and marital property. Maintenance and child clauses are allowed as well, though both carry statutory limits.[1]
The last two categories carry limits. Child terms remain reviewable by a judge under Section 240, and maintenance terms have to clear the fairness test above.[1] A judge weighs the best interests of the child before applying what the parents agreed.
The statute also reaches other terms and conditions of the marriage relationship.[1] That is where spouses settle the day to day money questions: bank accounts, tax filing, household costs, retirement savings, which assets stay with each spouse, and who keeps a business.
Yes. Section 236(B)(3) of the Domestic Relations Law makes an agreement made before or during the marriage valid and enforceable in a matrimonial action. It has to be in writing, subscribed by both parties, and acknowledged or proven in the manner required to entitle a deed to be recorded. A court then applies the terms the couple wrote instead of dividing the property itself.[1]
Enforceable does not mean untouchable. A judge can still refuse a maintenance clause that was not fair and reasonable when signed, or that has become unconscionable by the time judgment is entered.[1]
The statute never uses the word notarized. It requires the agreement to be acknowledged or proven in the manner required to entitle a deed to be recorded, and a notary is the ordinary way to meet that. New York also lets an acknowledgment of an agreement made before marriage be taken by any person authorized to solemnize a marriage.[1]
Signing in front of a witness is not the same thing as an acknowledgment. Validity turns on an acknowledgment taken in the form used for recording a deed, so a prenup both spouses signed willingly can still fail without one.[1]
Not automatically. New York lets a prenuptial agreement set out the ownership, division or distribution of separate and marital property. A house you bought before the wedding can be named in the agreement as your separate property, and that prenup governs how it is treated if the marriage ends.[1]
Without a prenup, the court classifies the property and divides the shared portion. Money and effort put into the house during the marriage can give the other spouse a claim on part of its increased value, whatever the title deed says. A written prenup heads off that argument.
New York gives a surviving spouse a right to elect against the provisions of a will, so she is not limited to whatever the will happens to leave her. A prenuptial agreement can waive that right. It can also contain a promise to make a testamentary provision of any kind, which is how couples guarantee a share instead of giving one up.[1]
Read the estate clauses carefully before signing. A waiver signed years before the wedding still binds the survivor after a death, and it sits alongside whatever the deceased spouse's will says.
Last Updated: September 2026 This guide is reviewed and updated regularly to reflect current New York law. If you notice an error or outdated information, please contact us.
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