New York: Prenuptial Agreement Requirements
The short answer
New York does not use the UPAA. Domestic Relations Law § 236(B)(3) requires a writing subscribed by both parties and acknowledged or proved with the formality required to record a deed; a notary is one authorized acknowledgment officer. The statute has no premarital disclosure-waiver formula, independent-counsel mandate, or waiting period, but maintenance and other marriage-relationship terms must be fair and reasonable when made and not unconscionable at final judgment, while child terms remain subject to court review under § 240.
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This is the general rule in New York. Ezel applies current New York law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and framework | State-specific agreement statute, not UPAA: N.Y. Dom. Rel. Law § 236(B)(3) |
|---|---|
| Writing, signature, and effect | Writing subscribed by both; may be made before marriage; no separate consideration or effective-on-marriage rule stated (§ 236(B)(3)) |
| Execution formalities | Deed-style acknowledgment or proof required; notary is one authorized officer, and a premarriage acknowledgment may be before an authorized marriage solemnizer; no separate witness count (§ 236(B)(3); R.P.L. § 298) |
| Financial disclosure and waiver | No express premarital disclosure or disclosure-waiver formula in § 236(B)(3); statutory fairness and final-judgment unconscionability govern covered relationship terms |
| Independent counsel and timing | No express independent-counsel, counsel-waiver, final-draft review, or pre-wedding waiting-period rule in § 236(B)(3) |
| Fairness standard and source | Statute — maintenance and other marriage-relationship terms must be fair and reasonable when made and not unconscionable at final judgment (§ 236(B)(3)) |
| Spousal-support limits | May set maintenance amount and duration; term must be fair/reasonable when made and not unconscionable at final judgment (§ 236(B)(3)) |
| Child and public-policy limits | Custody, care, education, and child-maintenance terms are subject to § 240; court considers the child's best interests (§§ 236(B)(3), 240(1)(a)) |
| Amendment and revocation | Modification or discharge only by a writing subscribed and acknowledged/proved with the same deed-recording formality (§ 236(B)(3)) |
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Requirements one by one
New York uses a state-specific agreement statute
N.Y. Dom. Rel. Law § 236(B)(3), rather than a version of the UPAA, governs an
agreement made before or during marriage when enforcement is sought in a
matrimonial action.
The agreement must be written and subscribed by both parties
Section 236(B)(3) requires a writing subscribed by the parties. It says the
agreement may be made before marriage, but it does not state a separate
consideration rule or a uniform effective-on-marriage clause.
Deed-style acknowledgment or proof is mandatory
Signatures alone do not complete the statutory form. The agreement must also be
acknowledged or proved in the manner required to entitle a deed to recording.
Under N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 298(1), a New York notary public is one officer who
may take the acknowledgment; the section lists other authorized officers too.
For an agreement made before marriage, § 236(B)(3) separately allows the
acknowledgment to be taken before a person authorized by the cited provisions
to solemnize a marriage. The prenup statute states no additional witness count.
The statute has no disclosure-waiver checklist
Section 236(B)(3) does not prescribe a UPAA-style fair-disclosure, written-
waiver, or adequate-knowledge formula for a prenup. It instead places the
express two-time fairness rule on maintenance and other terms and conditions of
the marriage relationship.
That statutory silence is not a promise that omitted or misleading financial
information is harmless in a particular dispute. It means New York's statute
does not supply the same disclosure safe-harbor checklist used in many UPAA
states.
No counsel or pre-wedding period appears in the statute
Section 236(B)(3) does not impose separate counsel, a counsel-waiver document,
a final-draft review period, or a minimum number of days before the wedding.
The deed-style acknowledgment remains mandatory regardless.
Fairness is tested when made and at final judgment
For maintenance and other terms and conditions of the marriage relationship,
§ 236(B)(3) requires the terms to be fair and reasonable when made and
not unconscionable when final judgment is entered. The statute therefore
states both an execution-time and an enforcement-time standard.
Maintenance terms remain subject to both fairness points
The statute permits a provision for the amount and duration of maintenance.
Any limitation or waiver expressed through that amount-and-duration term must
meet the same fair-and-reasonable-at-making and not-unconscionable-at-judgment
requirements.
Child provisions remain subject to court authority
Section 236(B)(3) permits provisions for a child's custody, care, education,
and maintenance only subject to § 240. Under § 240(1)(a), the court enters
custody and support orders as justice requires after considering the case,
the parties, and the child's best interests.
Modification or discharge repeats the execution form
No modification or discharge is effective unless it is in writing, subscribed
by the parties, and acknowledged or proved with the same deed-recording
formality required for the original agreement.
What trips people up
- A signed document can still miss the statutory form. The separate
acknowledgment-or-proof step is part of § 236(B)(3), not merely a prudent
add-on. - The statute covers agreements made during marriage too. This page remains
limited to the ordinary premarital use; the statute's broader reach does not
turn this survey into a postnuptial-agreement guide.
Common questions
Can a New York prenup address rights at death?
Yes. Section 236(B)(3) permits a contract to make a testamentary provision and
a waiver of a right to elect against a will. The execution requirements for
any separate estate-planning instrument remain a separate question.
Is a notary the only person who can take the acknowledgment?
No. N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 298 lists several authorized officers. A notary
public is the ordinary statewide option, and § 236(B)(3) adds a special route
for a premarriage acknowledgment before a person authorized by the cited
marriage-law provisions to solemnize a marriage.
Statutes and sources
- N.Y. Dom. Rel. Law § 236(B)(3) — writing, deed-style acknowledgment or
proof, permitted terms, two-time fairness standard, child-review rule, and
modification/discharge form. Official New York
law (accessed
2026-07-27). - N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 298(1) — officers authorized to take a New York
real-property acknowledgment or proof, including a notary public. Official
New York law (accessed
2026-07-27). - N.Y. Dom. Rel. Law § 240(1)(a) — court custody and support orders with
regard to the child's best interests. Official New York
law (accessed
2026-07-27).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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