Why families come to Connect Attorneys
Connect Attorneys is a Miami law firm serving clients throughout South Florida. Our family law attorneys focus on giving clients clear information and steady guidance, explaining how Florida law may apply and what to expect at each stage. Every client works directly with an attorney, and we serve South Florida families in English and Spanish.
What a Prenuptial Agreement Can Cover
A prenuptial agreement is a contract signed before marriage that can address how property and debts will be handled and, in many cases, whether either spouse may receive alimony. Couples often use these agreements to protect property owned before the marriage, a business, or an inheritance, and to add clarity for a second marriage or a blended family. Some matters, such as child support, generally cannot be decided in advance by a prenuptial agreement.
Making the Agreement Enforceable
Florida law sets the ground rules: a premarital agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties, and the marriage itself is all the consideration it needs. From there, enforceability is mostly about how the agreement came to be. An agreement is unenforceable against a spouse who proves they did not sign voluntarily, or that it was the product of fraud, duress, coercion, or overreaching, or that it was unconscionable when signed and they had neither fair disclosure of the other's finances, nor a written waiver of disclosure, nor adequate knowledge of those finances on their own.
In practice that means the process matters as much as the document. We help couples prepare agreements built to hold, and we review agreements the other side has proposed so you understand exactly what you are signing.
(Source: Fla. Stat. § 61.079.)
Where Agreements Fail in Real Life
Challenges to prenuptial agreements tend to follow patterns. An agreement first presented days before the wedding invites a voluntariness fight. A disclosure that quietly omits accounts or undervalues a business invites a fraud and unconscionability fight. Terms that leave one spouse with essentially nothing invite a court to look hard at everything else. None of these automatically sinks an agreement, and the burden rests on the spouse challenging it, but each one is avoidable with time, candor, and careful drafting, which is exactly the point of doing it right the first time.
Prenuptial vs. Postnuptial Agreements
A prenuptial agreement is signed before the marriage; a postnuptial agreement is signed after the couple is already married. Both can address similar issues, and the right choice depends on your timing and goals. The legal rules are not identical, though: Florida's premarital agreement statute governs prenups, while postnuptial agreements are evaluated under different principles, so the drafting and disclosure posture matters even more. We help couples decide which fits their situation.
If the Marriage Ends, the Agreement Meets the Divorce
A marital agreement does its real work years after it is signed, inside a divorce case. A valid agreement can resolve in advance much of what property division and alimony litigation would otherwise decide, which is why both the drafting and the challenge questions eventually run through the divorce process. One thing an agreement can never do is cut off a child's right to support: Florida law says that right may not be adversely affected by a premarital agreement.
(Source: Fla. Stat. § 61.079(4)(b).)
This is general information about Florida law, not legal advice. How these rules apply depends on the details of your situation. Talking with an attorney is the clearest way to understand what they mean for you.