Prenuptial Agreement Requirements in North Dakota

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Current agreements use the Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act

North Dakota repealed its former Uniform Premarital Agreement Act in chapter 14-03.1 and replaced it with the Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act in chapter 14-03.2. Under § 14-03.2-02, the current act applies to an agreement signed after July 31, 2013; rights and liabilities under an older agreement remain governed by the prior law.

The current act also separates a prenup from an agreement signed after a divorce or separation case has begun. Those litigation-resolution agreements are outside this chapter's scope.

A signed record is enough for formation

Section 14-03.2-05 requires the agreement to be in a record and signed by both parties. No consideration is required. Under § 14-03.2-06, a premarital agreement becomes effective on marriage.

The definition in § 14-03.2-01 is technology-neutral: a record may be stored on an electronic medium, and signing may use an electronic symbol, sound, or process adopted with present intent to authenticate the record.

No notary or witness is part of the statutory form rule

The formation rule in § 14-03.2-05 requires a record and both signatures. It does not add a notary, acknowledgment, witnesses, attestation, or recording. Under § 14-03.2-11, the chapter coordinates with the federal electronic-signature law rather than imposing a paper-only execution rule.

Disclosure has three statutory routes

Under § 14-03.2-08(4), adequate disclosure exists through any one of three routes: a reasonably accurate description and good-faith estimate of the other party's property, liabilities, and income; an express waiver in a separate signed record; or adequate knowledge or a reasonable basis for it.

That separate-record requirement matters. A general waiver buried inside the prenup is not the waiver form described by this subsection.

North Dakota requires access to independent representation

Section 14-03.2-08(2) does not say each party must actually hire a lawyer. It does require meaningful access: reasonable time to decide whether to retain a lawyer, locate one, obtain advice, and consider it. If the other party has a lawyer, the unrepresented party must have the financial ability to hire one or the represented party must agree to pay reasonable fees and expenses.

If a party signs without independent representation, § 14-03.2-08(1) and (3) add another protection. The agreement must conspicuously display the statutory waiver-of-rights notice or explain in plain language the marital rights and obligations being changed or waived.

The statute tests both formation and later hardship

The fairness source is statutory. Under § 14-03.2-08(1), an agreement is unenforceable for involuntary consent or duress, lack of access to independent representation, the missing uncounseled notice or explanation, or inadequate financial disclosure.

The court may also refuse a particular term under § 14-03.2-08(6) if it was unconscionable when signed or if enforcement would cause substantial hardship because circumstances materially changed afterward. The court decides those issues as matters of law.

Support may be changed, with a public-assistance safety valve

Spousal support is a “marital right or obligation” under § 14-03.2-01(4), so a prenup may affirm, modify, or waive it. But § 14-03.2-08(5) allows the court, on request, to order enough support to prevent the waiver or modification from making a party eligible for public assistance at separation or dissolution. A support term also remains subject to the term-level unconscionability and substantial-hardship rules.

Child, safety, and court-access terms remain protected

Section 14-03.2-09 makes a term unenforceable to the extent it harms a child's support right, restricts a domestic-violence remedy, changes the legal grounds for separation or dissolution, or penalizes a party for starting that proceeding. Parenting terms are not binding on the court. Under § 14-09-06.2, the court separately directs the court to determine parental rights and responsibilities from the child's best interests and welfare.

Amendment or revocation uses the same signed-record structure

Section 14-03.2-01 defines “amendment” to include modification or revocation. An amendment signed after marriage is a marital agreement, and § 14-03.2-05 requires that agreement to be in a record signed by both parties. It remains enforceable without consideration.

What trips people up

• The old UPAA chapter is repealed. Chapter 14-03.1 is not the current law for a new prenup. The signing date determines whether chapter 14-03.2 applies.
• “Access to counsel” is more than an optional-lawyer sentence. The statute requires reasonable time to decide, locate counsel, get advice, and consider it, plus financial access when the other side is represented.
• A support waiver is not absolute. Even a properly executed term can be adjusted enough to avoid public-assistance eligibility, and later substantial hardship can support nonenforcement after a material change.
• Marriage tolls limitations, but not every delay defense. Under § 14-03.2-10, an applicable limitations period is tolled during marriage while laches and estoppel remain available.

Common questions

Can a North Dakota prenup be electronic?

The chapter's definitions allow an electronic record and an electronic symbol, sound, or process used with intent to authenticate. Section 14-03.2-11 also addresses the chapter's relationship to the federal electronic-signature law.

What if the marriage is later determined to be void?

Under § 14-03.2-07, an agreement that otherwise qualifies is enforceable only to the extent necessary to avoid an inequitable result.

Does the act cover a divorce settlement signed after filing?

No. Section 14-03.2-02 excludes an agreement resolving marital rights that is signed after a dissolution or court-decreed separation proceeding has begun.

Statutes and sources

• N.D. Cent. Code §§ 14-03.2-01 to -02 — definitions, electronic records and signatures, amendment, current-act cutoff, and scope exclusions. Official North Dakota Century Code (accessed 2026-07-28).
• N.D. Cent. Code §§ 14-03.2-05 to -06 — formation, no consideration, and effectiveness upon marriage. Official North Dakota Century Code (accessed 2026-07-28).
• N.D. Cent. Code § 14-03.2-08 — consent, duress, counsel access, uncounseled notice, disclosure, support safety valve, unconscionability, and substantial hardship. Official North Dakota Century Code (accessed 2026-07-28).
• N.D. Cent. Code § 14-03.2-09 — child, parenting, domestic-violence, dissolution-ground, and filing-penalty limits. Official North Dakota Century Code (accessed 2026-07-28).
• N.D. Cent. Code §§ 14-03.2-07 and 14-03.2-10 to -11 — void marriages, limitations tolling, and electronic-signature coordination. Official North Dakota Century Code (accessed 2026-07-28).
• N.D. Cent. Code § 14-09-06.2 — court determination of the child's best interests and welfare. Official North Dakota Century Code (accessed 2026-07-28).