Free Arizona Postnuptial Agreement Template

An Arizona postnuptial agreement is a written contract spouses sign during the marriage about property, debts, and income. Arizona treats most property acquired during marriage as community property. So the agreement usually centers on which assets each spouse keeps separate.

What Counts as Community Property

All property either spouse acquires during the marriage is community property, with two exceptions. One is property acquired by gift, devise, or descent. The other is property acquired after service of a divorce, separation, or annulment petition that ends in a decree (A.R.S. § 25-211(A)).

What Counts as Separate Property

Separate property covers what a spouse owned before marriage, plus anything received during marriage by gift, devise, or descent. It also includes the increase, rents, issues, and profits of that property (A.R.S. § 25-213(A)).

Who Manages Which Property

Each spouse alone controls their own separate property. For community property, both spouses have equal management, control, and disposition rights (A.R.S. § 25-214(A) and (B)).

Real Estate Takes Both Signatures

Usually either spouse can act alone for the community. However, both must join in any deal to acquire, sell, or encumber real property. The exceptions are an unpatented mining claim and a lease under one year. Both must also join in any guaranty, indemnity, or suretyship (A.R.S. § 25-214(C)).

Yes, most of it is. Unless an exception applies, what either spouse acquires during the marriage belongs to the community (§ 25-211(A)). That default is why couples write an Arizona postnuptial agreement. It records, in one place, which assets each spouse means to keep separate.

Serving a divorce petition doesn’t reset everything, either. It does not alter the status of community property that already exists (§ 25-211(B)). So a postnup signed years into a marriage should address existing community assets, not just future ones.

Before you sign an Arizona postnuptial agreement, work through these steps together:

1. Sort every asset. Use the statute’s categories: owned before marriage, received by gift or inheritance, or acquired during marriage.
2. Track what separate assets earn. Rents and profits from separate property are separate too, so list those accounts on their own.
3. Disclose debts and guaranties. Include any guaranty either spouse has signed or plans to sign.
4. Review the draft together. Give each spouse time to ask questions and get advice.
5. Sign and date it. Both spouses sign the same final version.
6. Handle real estate separately. Changing who owns a home takes its own deed. If the home is community property, § 25-214(C) requires both spouses to join in that transaction.

A short, specific agreement is easier to follow years later:

• Separate property list — each spouse’s assets, with where each one came from
• Community property list — what you both agree to share
• Income and growth — how you’ll treat earnings from each asset
• Debt terms — who is responsible for which obligations
• Business interests — how you’ll handle any business and its growth