USA – MINNESOTA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Lisa Spencer and Sarah Hewitt, Henson Efron
The Modern Prenuptial Agreement Prenuptial agreements are more popular than ever. Wise counsel can prevent “buyer’s remorse”. “In my prenuptial era” Before reciting wedding vows, exchanging rings and cutting the cake, a growing number of couples are signing prenuptial agreements. Prenuptial agree - ments, sometimes called antenuptial agreements, premarital agreements, or “prenups” for short, are contracts in which soon-to-be-spouses decide their rights in case of a divorce or the death of either spouse during their marriage. Prenuptial agreements date back at least as far as the sixteenth century. But until the advent of “no- fault divorce” approximately 50 years ago, American divorce courts were reluctant to enforce these agree - ments, citing public policy concerns. Today, all 50 US states enforce prenuptial agreements, although differ - ent states hold them to different standards. Despite the increased viability of prenuptial agree - ments in recent decades, these agreements remained relatively rare among marrying couples until the past decade. In one 2010 poll, only 3% of Americans report - ed having signed a prenuptial agreement. By 2023, that number had skyrocketed to 21%, an increase driven mostly by Millennial and Gen Z respondents. Reasons for the rise in popularity Many theories have surfaced to explain this spike in the popularity of the prenup. The agreements have become more common as the United States has experienced demographic changes in the workforce. Women are gaining ground in high-earning occupa - tions and hold nearly half of managerial positions today. As women increasingly enter marriage with assets of their own, some are requesting prenuptial agreements to protect those premarital assets. Another contributing factor is the rise in the average age at which people first marry, which rose by seven years between 1975 and 2025. According to esti - mates from recent US census data, men today are getting married for the first time at an average age of 30.8 years and women are entering first marriages at the average age of 28.4 years. While waiting to say,
“I do,” singles spend years accumulating assets and debts. Whether they begin married life with a growing retirement account, a mountain of student debt, or both, many happy couples want to delineate what is “mine” and what is “yours” from what is “ours”. The popularity of prenups among younger generations may also be motivated, in part, by earlier generations’ divorce rates. According to the Pew Research Center, nearly 50% of American marriages that took place in the 1980s have ended in divorce. Many Millennials and Gen Z adults had front row seats to those divorc - es during childhood. Compared to Baby Boomers and Gen X, younger generations are more likely to delay or opt out of marriage altogether. As of 2021, about 25% of 40-year-old Americans had never been married, up from just 6% in 1980. Perhaps it is little wonder that, among those who do marry, more young Americans are requesting prenuptial agreements. As prenuptial agreements have grown in popularity, they have shed some of their stigma. Rachel Lind - say, former star of the reality dating show “The Bach - elorette”, has publicly expressed regret that she had not tried harder to convince her ex-husband to sign a prenuptial agreement. When Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, divorced without a prenuptial agreement in 2019, his ex-wife became the fifth-richest woman in the world – a fact that made international headlines. Kim Kardashian plugged prenuptial agreements on a recent podcast appearance, advising listeners to “get a prenup, no matter what”. Who (or what) is drafting today’s prenups? For better or for worse, there is now a booming mar - ket for prenuptial agreements. Who is drafting them? Many family law and estate planning attorneys have the specialised knowledge and experience necessary to draft strong prenuptial agreements. Recently, as demand has grown, new apps and online services have sprung up claiming to offer prenups on demand. These services use AI to generate draft agreements, based on user input from online questionnaires. While disclaimers and warnings urge consultation with a lawyer for a “final review” or “Q&A” before signing, not all users will heed that advice. Those who do con - sult lawyers may have unrealistic expectations. Par -
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