Minnesota: Prenuptial Agreement Requirements

Requirements one by one

Minnesota uses a state-specific fairness statute

Section 519.11 governs antenuptial agreements executed on or after August 1, 2024. It authorizes terms concerning marital and nonmarital property at separation or dissolution, spousal maintenance, and rights in each other's estates.

Marriage itself supplies adequate consideration. The agreement's validity nevertheless depends on both procedural fairness under subdivision 1b and substantive fairness under subdivision 1c.

Execution requires two witnesses and acknowledgment

The agreement must be in writing, executed in the presence of two witnesses, and acknowledged by both parties before a person authorized to administer an oath in Minnesota. A power of attorney cannot perform that execution for a party.

Minnesota does not state a general recording condition in the current § 519.11. A duly acknowledged and attested agreement is prima facie proof of the matters it acknowledges.

Full and fair disclosure cannot be waived

Each party must disclose current income and property. “Full and fair” means a reasonably accurate description of all material income facts, good-faith estimates of property value, and the basis for those disclosures.

The statute expressly says a party must not waive this requirement. Independent knowledge or a signed waiver is not listed as a substitute.

Counsel opportunity and seven-day timing are separate protections

Each party must have a meaningful opportunity to consult independent counsel of that party's choosing. For the prenup itself, actual retention is not stated as mandatory; the opportunity is.

The procedural-fairness checklist also calls for entering and executing the agreement at least seven days before marriage. At seven days or more, the agreement is presumed enforceable and the challenger carries the burden. At less than seven days, the presumption disappears and the proponent carries the burden. The statute does not label the shorter interval automatically void.

Substantive fairness continues through enforcement

The court considers whether the agreement is unconscionable because of its terms or because drastically changed circumstances, not originally foreseen, make enforcement depart from the parties' reasonable expectations when they signed.

The agreement need not reproduce the result that ordinary Minnesota property-division or maintenance law would provide. Deviation from those statutes, standing alone, is not unconscionability.

Maintenance terms remain inside the fairness review

Section 519.11 expressly allows an agreement to provide for spousal maintenance. A waiver or limit therefore is not automatically barred, but it must pass the same procedural and substantive fairness rules, including the enforcement-stage review for drastic unforeseen change.

The statute states no separate public-assistance override for a maintenance waiver.

Child decisions remain for the court

Section 519.11's subject list covers property, maintenance, and estate rights, not custody, parenting time, or child support. Section 518.17 requires the court to decide custody, parenting time, residence, and support, and to evaluate custody and parenting time through the child's best interests.

A post-marriage change is a full postnuptial agreement

An antenuptial agreement may be amended or revoked after marriage only through a valid postnuptial agreement. The postnuptial document must comply with the prenup's procedural and substantive fairness requirements, including writing, two witnesses, acknowledgment, and nonwaivable disclosure, except that the seven-day pre-wedding rule no longer applies.

The protection becomes stricter after marriage: each spouse must actually be represented by separate legal counsel. If either spouse starts a separation or dissolution action within two years, the postnuptial agreement is presumed unenforceable unless its proponent establishes that it is fair and equitable.

What trips people up

Seven days controls the burden as well as the checklist. Signing at least seven days before marriage supplies the statutory presumption; signing later shifts the burden to the proponent.

Disclosure is not waivable. A recital that both parties understand the bargain does not replace current income and property disclosure with value estimates and their basis.

An amendment is not a simple signed addendum after marriage. It must qualify as a valid postnuptial agreement, including actual separate counsel for both spouses.

Common questions

Does a Minnesota prenup need a notary and witnesses?

It needs acknowledgment before a person authorized to administer an oath and execution in the presence of two witnesses. Both requirements appear in § 519.11, subdivision 1b.

Must each prospective spouse hire a lawyer?

For the prenup, each needs a meaningful opportunity to consult independent counsel, but the statute does not require actual retention. A post-marriage amendment is different: each spouse must be represented by separate counsel.

Can the parties waive financial disclosure?

No. The current statute expressly says the full and fair disclosure requirement may not be waived.

Does a maintenance waiver always control at divorce?

No. It remains subject to substantive-fairness review, including whether drastically changed, originally unforeseen circumstances make enforcement unconscionable and inconsistent with the parties' original reasonable expectations.

Statutes and sources

• Minn. Stat. § 519.11. Current official antenuptial and postnuptial agreement statute covering scope, form, disclosure, counsel, timing, procedural and substantive fairness, maintenance, and amendment/revocation. Official statute (accessed July 28, 2026).
• Minn. Stat. § 518.17. Court authority and best-interest rules for custody, parenting time, residence, and child support. Official statute (accessed July 28, 2026).