Prenuptial Agreement Requirements in Pennsylvania

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Pennsylvania uses a state-specific enforceability statute

23 Pa.C.S. § 3106 supplies Pennsylvania's premarital-agreement challenge and disclosure test. It is not a complete enactment of the UPAA's formation, subject-matter, amendment, and revocation provisions. Section 3105 separately governs enforcement and court modification of agreements within the Divorce Code's jurisdiction.

The statute makes the agreement effective upon marriage

Section 3106(b) defines a premarital agreement as an agreement between prospective spouses, made in contemplation of marriage, that becomes effective upon marriage.

The section refers to execution but does not state a general rule requiring a writing signed by both parties or consideration beyond the contemplated marriage. Its express writing rule appears in the narrower disclosure-waiver route.

The statute adds no notary or witness formality

Section 3106 states no notary, acknowledgment, witness, attestation, oath, or recording requirement. Those formalities should not be presented as universal Pennsylvania prenup-validity conditions merely because a particular document includes them.

Disclosure has three statutory paths

A challenger relying on inadequate disclosure must prove all three parts of § 3106(a)(2): no fair and reasonable disclosure, no voluntary and express written waiver of further disclosure, and no adequate knowledge of the other party's property or financial obligations.

Because the three subparts are joined, fair and reasonable disclosure, a valid written waiver, or adequate knowledge defeats that particular cumulative challenge. A disclosure waiver must be both express and voluntary and must be in writing.

No counsel or minimum pre-wedding period appears in the statute

Section 3106 does not prescribe independent counsel, a counsel-waiver document, a final-draft review period, or a minimum number of days before the wedding. Voluntariness remains a separate enforceability requirement, so the absence of a statutory clock does not decide a fact-specific coercion dispute.

The challenger bears the clear-and-convincing burden

The party seeking to set the agreement aside must prove by clear and convincing evidence either that execution was not voluntary or that the complete three-part disclosure failure occurred. Section 3106 does not add a separate statutory unconscionability or enforcement-time hardship test.

Alimony terms ordinarily are not court-modifiable

Under § 3105(c), an agreement provision about alimony or alimony pendente lite is not subject to court modification unless the agreement contains a specific contrary provision. Section 3106 applies its general voluntariness and disclosure test without a separate support-only counsel or hardship safeguard.

Child provisions stay within court authority

Section 3105(b) makes agreement provisions about child support, visitation, or custody modifiable by the court when circumstances change. Section 4322 applies the statewide support guideline and its rebuttable presumption. Section 5328 requires a custody order based on the child's best interests and the totality of the circumstances, with added weight for safety factors.

What trips people up

• The disclosure test is cumulative. A challenger using § 3106(a)(2) must prove the absence of disclosure, a valid written waiver, and adequate knowledge—not merely one missing item.
• Common document formalities are not automatically statutory formalities. A notary block, witness line, counsel acknowledgment, or seven-day review period may appear in a form without being required by § 3106.
• The statute does not supply a change form. Sections 3105 and 3106 contain no express procedure for amending or revoking a prenup after marriage, so a document's proposed amendment clause should not be labeled a statutory form.

Common questions

Does a disclosure waiver have to be a separate document?

Section 3106 requires the waiver to be voluntary, express, and in writing. It does not say that the waiver must be in a separate instrument.

Does Pennsylvania impose a seven-day prenup waiting period?

No such fixed period appears in § 3106. The statute instead asks whether the party executed voluntarily and applies the disclosure test stated in subsection (a)(2).

Can a prenup permanently settle child custody or child support?

No. Section 3105(b) keeps child-support, visitation, and custody provisions subject to court modification upon changed circumstances, and the court applies the support-guideline and child-best-interest statutes.

Statutes and sources

• 23 Pa.C.S. § 3105 — agreement enforcement and the different court- modification rules for child provisions and property/alimony provisions. Official Pennsylvania statute (accessed 2026-07-27).
• 23 Pa.C.S. § 3106 — burden of proof, voluntariness, disclosure and written- waiver test, and effective-upon-marriage definition. Official Pennsylvania statute (accessed 2026-07-27).
• 23 Pa.C.S. § 4322 — statewide child- and spousal-support guideline and rebuttable presumption. Official Pennsylvania statute (accessed 2026-07-27).
• 23 Pa.C.S. § 5328 — child-best-interest custody factors and totality-of- circumstances determination. Official Pennsylvania statute (accessed 2026-07-27).