Louisiana: Prenuptial Agreement Requirements
The short answer
Louisiana treats a prenup as a matrimonial agreement under its Civil Code, not the UPAA. Before the wedding, the parties must complete either an authentic act—signed before a notary and two witnesses—or a private act that both spouses duly acknowledge; a later acknowledgment cannot cure the defect. Ordinary error, fraud, and duress rules apply, final spousal support may be waived, and interim support may not.
Ask Ezel about your situation
This is the general rule in Louisiana. Ezel applies current Louisiana law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and framework | Louisiana Civil Code matrimonial-agreement scheme, not UPAA/UPMAA: arts. 2328-2332, with ordinary contract rules |
|---|---|
| Writing, signature, and effect | Written nominate contract executed by both prospective spouses; all required signing and acknowledgment must be perfected before marriage to have prenuptial effect (arts. 2328, 2331; Acurio) |
| Execution formalities | Either authentic act (notary + 2 witnesses + all signatures) or private act duly acknowledged before a court/notary/authorized officer in 2 witnesses' presence; complete before wedding (arts. 1833, 1836, 2331) |
| Financial disclosure and waiver | No prenup-specific disclosure schedule or waiver in arts. 2328-2332; ordinary error/fraud/duress and free-consent rules remain available (arts. 1948, 2031; McAlpine) |
| Independent counsel and timing | No independent-counsel mandate, advisement, fixed review period, or minimum wedding interval; Acurio requires every form step, including acknowledgment, before marriage |
| Fairness standard and source | Case law — McAlpine applies ordinary contract rescission grounds: capacity, consent, error, fraud, and duress. Louisiana has no separate UPAA unconscionability or enforcement-time changed-circumstances test |
| Spousal-support limits | Final support may be waived by authentic act or acknowledged private act (art. 116; McAlpine); interim support may not be waived or contractually capped (art. 98; Hall/Holliday) |
| Child and public-policy limits | Custody remains a best-interest decision and child support remains modifiable (arts. 131, 142). Terms also cannot violate public policy or alter the marital portion, succession order, or specified third-person community rights (arts. 2329-2330) |
| Amendment and revocation | After marriage, use art. 2331 form plus a joint petition and court finding of best interests and informed understanding to modify/terminate the regime; limited art. 2329 exceptions apply for returning to the legal regime and a new Louisiana domicile's first year |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
Requirements one by one
Louisiana uses a civil-law matrimonial agreement
Article 2328 defines the agreement as a contract that creates separation of property or changes or ends the legal regime. It is Louisiana's own Civil Code structure, not a version of the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act.
Any part of the legal regime that the agreement does not exclude or modify remains in force. The agreement therefore changes only what its actual terms reach.
Both form routes require more than ordinary signatures
Article 2331 provides two routes. An authentic act requires each executing party to sign before a notary and two witnesses, with the witnesses and notary also signing. The parties may execute at different times or places if each execution separately satisfies those steps.
The alternative is an act under private signature duly acknowledged. Article 1836 ordinarily permits acknowledgment before a court, notary, or authorized officer in the presence of two witnesses.
The form must be complete before the wedding
Acurio treats acknowledgment as a validity formality, not merely later proof that a signature is genuine. A private document signed before marriage but acknowledged only afterward is not a valid prenup, and the post-wedding acknowledgment cannot relate back to repair it.
Louisiana sets no minimum number of review days. The real deadline is completion of the selected statutory form before marriage.
Disclosure and counsel are not separate statutory checkboxes
Articles 2328 through 2332 do not prescribe financial schedules, a disclosure waiver, independent counsel, or a counsel-waiver form. That does not protect deceit or coerced consent.
Article 1948 allows consent to be challenged for error, fraud, or duress. McAlpine applies those ordinary contract grounds, together with capacity and free consent, to premarital agreements.
Louisiana does not use an UPAA fairness test
McAlpine says these agreements face the same rescission grounds as other contracts. It does not add a separate execution-time unconscionability formula or an enforcement-time changed-circumstances second look.
Public-policy limits remain independent. Article 2329 allows agreements only on matters not prohibited by public policy, while article 2330 protects the marital portion, succession order, and specified third-person community rights.
Final and interim support follow opposite rules
Article 116 permits final spousal support to be waived by authentic act or an acknowledged private act. McAlpine holds that a premarital final-support waiver is not automatically against public policy and remains subject to ordinary contract rescission.
Interim support cannot be waived. Hall applied the spouses' article 98 support duty and held both a complete waiver and an insufficient contractual cap invalid as against public policy.
Child terms remain subject to the court
Article 131 requires the court to award custody according to the child's best interest. Article 142 allows a child-support award to change when the child's or either parent's circumstances materially change.
A prenup may record the parties' present expectations, but it cannot conclusively fix those later decisions.
Post-marriage changes add court procedure
Article 2331 still supplies the form for an agreement executed during marriage. Article 2329 generally adds a joint petition and a court finding that the change serves both spouses' best interests and that they understand the governing rules.
Two narrow exceptions matter. Spouses may return to the legal regime without court approval, and spouses who move into and acquire a Louisiana domicile have a one-year window to enter an agreement without approval.
Recording affects third persons
Article 2332 makes recording a third-person-effect rule, not the basic form between the spouses. For immovables, filing belongs in the conveyance records where the property is located; for movables, it belongs in the parish or parishes of the spouses' domicile.
What trips people up
A notary alone is not an authentic act. The authentic-act route includes two witnesses and all required signatures.
Later acknowledgment does not cure a premarital defect. Acurio rejected acknowledgment first supplied years later during divorce litigation.
The support label matters. Final support can be waived; interim support cannot be waived or reduced below what the court finds sufficient.
An amendment clause is not self-executing after marriage. Most post-marriage regime changes require the article 2329 joint petition and court finding in addition to proper form.
Common questions
Must both people use separate lawyers?
Louisiana's matrimonial-agreement articles do not make separate lawyers a form requirement. Lack of counsel can still matter factually when a court evaluates capacity, consent, fraud, error, or duress.
Can the parties sign at different times?
Yes, under the authentic-act rule, if each person executes before an authorized officer and two witnesses and each required signer signs that execution.
Must the prenup be recorded?
Recording is required to make the agreement effective against third persons in the places article 2332 identifies. It is separate from article 2331's validity form between the spouses.
Can the agreement waive all alimony?
No. It may waive final spousal support in the required form, but a waiver or inadequate cap on interim spousal support is invalid.
Statutes and sources
- La. Civ. Code arts. 2328-2332. Current matrimonial-agreement scope, limits, form, post-marriage approval, and third-person recording rules. Arts. 2328, 2329, 2330, 2331, and 2332 (accessed July 28, 2026).
- La. Civ. Code arts. 1833, 1836, 1948, and 2031. Authentic-act, acknowledged-private-act, consent, and relative-nullity rules. Authentic act, acknowledgment, vitiated consent, and relative nullity (accessed July 28, 2026).
- La. Civ. Code arts. 98 and 116. Married-person support duty and final-support waiver form. Art. 98 and art. 116 (accessed July 28, 2026).
- La. Civ. Code arts. 131 and 142. Custody best-interest and child-support modification rules. Art. 131 and art. 142 (accessed July 28, 2026).
- Acurio v. Acurio, 224 So. 3d 935 (La. 2017). Pre-wedding acknowledgment and no-later-cure holding. Opinion (accessed July 28, 2026).
- McAlpine v. McAlpine, 679 So. 2d 85 (La. 1996). Final-support waiver and ordinary-contract rescission rule. Official opinion (accessed July 28, 2026).
- Hall v. Hall, 4 So. 3d 254 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2009). Interim-support waiver and cap are against public policy. Opinion (accessed July 28, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
Get the answer for your situation
You just read how Louisiana handles this in general. Ezel applies current Louisiana law to your facts and answers your specific question, with citations.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer cites the authority it relies on.