How do you make a prenuptial agreement?

Married spouses or partners in a registered partnership have a right to each other’s property if this right has not been specifically restricted. The spouses’ rights to property mean that if the couple divorces or one of them dies, their property will be added up and divided in half. 

In a prenuptial agreement, the spouses can determine that each of them keeps the wealth they had before the marriage. For example, the prenuptial agreement may also say that you do not have the marital right to your spouse’s inheritance, or a company or a farm that your spouse owns. The prenuptial agreement may also exclude the marital right to property altogether so that neither spouse has a right to any of the other spouse’s property.

You can make a prenuptial agreement if you are already married or in a registered partnership, or when you are planning to get married. 

The spouses must make the prenuptial agreement together. Neither spouse can do it alone.

The couple can draw up the agreement themselves. However, it is a good idea to use expert help when drawing up a prenuptial agreement. Turn to a law firm, the legal experts of your bank or a public legal aid office. 

Expert help is usually subject to a charge. A legal aid office can provide you with a public legal aid attorney fully or partly paid for from central government funds if you are entitled to legal aid due to your financial situation. Your income, expenditure and family size affect your right to receive legal aid.

The prenuptial agreement must always be made in writing. It must have a date and your signatures. Two impartial persons must witness the agreement. 

The prenuptial agreement enters into force once it has been registered at the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. You will have to pay a fee for the registration.

The future spouses can already have the prenuptial agreement drawn up before concluding the marriage. You can also make a prenuptial agreement at any time when you are already married or in a registered partnership.

You are disqualified as a witness if the person making the prenuptial agreement is your 

• current or former spouse
• sibling
• parent 
• child. 

You are also disqualified if you have some other kind of close relationship similar to an intimate or family relationship with the person concerned. The witness must be 15 years of age.

You can modify or cancel the prenuptial agreement at any time while you are married. The prenuptial agreement is changed or cancelled by making a new prenuptial agreement in which the marital rights to property are returned either partly or fully. The new prenuptial agreement must also be submitted to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency for registration.

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