Would Enactment of the Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreement Act in All Fifty States Change U.S. Law Regarding Premarital Agreements?

Abstract

This article summarizes the provisions of the Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreement Act, which was promulgated by the Uniform Law Commission in the summer of 2012. It compares these provisions to the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act, the rules currently applicable in states that did not adopt the UPAA, and the approach applied in other countries to premarital agreements contemplating divorce. The article summarizes the new requirement in the UPMAA that, to be enforceable, each party must have had “access to independent counsel,” and discusses how courts might construe such a provision.

Keywords: Premarital agreement, Prenup, Postnuptial agreement, Marital agreement, Post-marital agreement, Marital regimes, Spousal waivers, Alimony waiver, Equitable distribution waiver, Spousal contracting, Access to counsel