Antenuptial (Prenuptial) Agreements in Minnesota

Last reviewed November 3, 2026

An antenuptial agreement in Minnesota, often called a prenuptial agreement, is a written contract that two people sign before marriage to decide in advance how property, maintenance, and estate rights will be handled. Minnesota rewrote its governing statute in 2024. For agreements signed on or after August 1, 2024, Minn. Stat. § 519.11 now sets out specific tests for procedural and substantive fairness. This page explains what such an agreement may cover, how it must be made, and when a court may decline to enforce it. It is part of the site’s guide to antenuptial and postnuptial agreements.

What an Antenuptial Agreement May Cover

Under § 519.11, subd. 1(b), an antenuptial agreement may:

1. determine each party’s rights in marital and nonmarital property upon a dissolution or legal separation;
2. provide for spousal maintenance;
3. determine each party’s rights in the other’s estate; and
4. bar each party from rights in the other’s estate not secured by the agreement.

The terms “marital property” and “nonmarital property” carry the meanings in Minn. Stat. § 518.003, subd. 3b. As a result, an agreement can, for example, keep a family business or an inheritance separate, or set a formula for dividing a home.

The statute’s list does not include child custody, parenting time, or child support. Those issues remain subject to the court’s own determinations under the best-interests factors and the support guidelines when a case arises.

Who May Enter One and When

Two people of legal age may enter an antenuptial agreement before the marriage is solemnized (§ 519.11, subd. 1(a)). The marriage itself supplies the consideration, so no separate payment is required. Once the parties are married, a new agreement is no longer antenuptial. It must instead meet the stricter rules for a postnuptial agreement.

Procedural Fairness: Five Requirements

The 2024 statute lists five elements of procedural fairness (§ 519.11, subd. 1b(b)). Each addresses how the agreement was made, rather than what it says.

1. Full and Fair Disclosure

Each party must provide a reasonably accurate description of all material facts about their income. Each must also give good-faith estimates of the value of their property and disclose the basis for those estimates. Importantly, this requirement cannot be waived. A written schedule of income and assets, attached to the agreement, is the usual way to document compliance.

2. A Meaningful Opportunity to Consult Independent Counsel

Each party must have had a meaningful opportunity to consult a lawyer of their own choosing. The statute does not strictly require both parties to retain counsel. Still, an agreement signed after one party declined counsel invites closer scrutiny, and a single lawyer cannot independently advise both sides.

3. Proper Execution

The agreement must be in writing and signed in the presence of two witnesses. The parties must then acknowledge it before an officer empowered to administer oaths, typically a notary public. A signature through a power of attorney does not satisfy this requirement (subd. 1b(d)). An agreement properly acknowledged and attested is prima facie proof of the matters it acknowledges.

4. Voluntariness

The agreement must be entered into voluntarily and free of duress. Evidence of pressure, threats, or a last-minute ultimatum can undermine this element.

5. Signing at Least Seven Days Before the Wedding

The agreement must be entered into and signed no less than seven days before the marriage. This timing requirement also controls the burden of proof (subd. 1b(c)):

• An agreement signed at least seven days before the wedding is presumed enforceable. The party seeking to set it aside bears the burden of proof.
• An agreement signed fewer than seven days before the wedding is not presumed enforceable. The party relying on it must prove that it is valid.

As a practical matter, it is prudent to complete the agreement well before the seven-day mark. That leaves time for review, revision, and signing without the pressure of wedding logistics.

Substantive Fairness: The Unconscionability Test

Even a properly made agreement must be substantively fair (§ 519.11, subd. 1c). The court asks whether all or part of it is so unfair as to be unconscionable. That can happen in two ways:

• By its terms, judged at the time of signing; or
• Through drastically changed circumstances that the parties did not foresee, such that enforcement would no longer match their reasonable expectations when they signed.

The statute also makes clear what is not required. An agreement need not resemble the property division or maintenance award a court would order without it. Moreover, a departure from statutory standards does not, by itself, make an agreement unconscionable. For that reason, a one-sided result is not automatically unenforceable. The question is whether it rises to the level of unconscionability.

Severability

If the agreement unambiguously permits it, a court may sever an unenforceable provision and enforce the rest (subd. 1(e)). A clear severability clause is therefore an important drafting safeguard.

Changing or Revoking the Agreement After Marriage

After the wedding, an antenuptial agreement may be amended or revoked only through a valid postnuptial agreement (§ 519.11, subd. 2a). An informal understanding or an unsigned revision does not change it. Consequently, the separate-counsel and two-year rules for postnuptial agreements apply to any later amendment.

Agreements Signed Before August 1, 2024

The current version of § 519.11 applies to agreements executed on or after August 1, 2024 (subd. 6). Older agreements are generally evaluated under the prior version of the statute and Minnesota’s common-law fairness standards.

Under that earlier case law, courts examined both procedural fairness and substantive fairness. Substantive fairness was considered at the time the agreement was made and again at the time of enforcement. See McKee-Johnson v. Johnson, 444 N.W.2d 259 (Minn. 1989); In re Estate of Kinney, 733 N.W.2d 118 (Minn. 2007). Anyone relying on, or challenging, a pre-2024 agreement should have it reviewed under the law in effect when it was signed.

Practical Steps in Preparing an Agreement

1. Start early. Begin discussions months before the wedding, not weeks.
2. Exchange financial disclosures. Prepare written schedules of income, assets, and debts, with the basis for each value. The site’s documents checklist lists the types of records involved.
3. Retain separate attorneys. Each party should have independent counsel review the draft and explain its effect.
4. Address both divorce and death. Decide whether the agreement will govern estate rights as well as dissolution, and coordinate it with wills and beneficiary designations.
5. Include a severability clause. This protects the remainder of the agreement if one term is later found unenforceable.
6. Sign with formalities. Execute the agreement before two witnesses and a notary at least seven days before the wedding, and keep the original in a safe place.

How Agreements Interact with Divorce Law

Without an agreement, a Minnesota court divides marital property in a just and equitable way (Minn. Stat. § 518.58). It decides maintenance under § 518.552. A valid antenuptial agreement replaces those defaults for the matters it covers. For more on those default rules, see Minnesota Spousal Maintenance and Retirement Accounts and Divorce.