Free Ohio Prenuptial Agreement Template

An Ohio prenuptial agreement, called an antenuptial agreement in the Revised Code, is a contract future spouses sign before marriage. Ohio’s statutes address these agreements in its divorce property rules and in the rights of surviving spouses.

Several sections of the Revised Code apply, and a 2023 law updated them.

Separate Property Under a Valid Agreement

The divorce property statute, R.C. 3105.171, treats property excluded by a valid antenuptial or postnuptial agreement as separate property. Before 2023, that language covered antenuptial agreements only.

The 2023 Changes

Senate Bill 210 took effect March 23, 2023. It recognized postnuptial agreements and allows spouses to modify or end an antenuptial agreement after marriage.

Under R.C. 3103.061, those agreements between spouses must meet four requirements:

• A writing signed by both spouses
• Entered freely, without fraud, duress, coercion, or overreaching
• Full disclosure, or full knowledge and understanding, of the nature, value, and extent of both spouses’ property
• Terms that don’t promote or encourage divorce or profiteering by divorce

An agreement meeting those requirements is valid and enforceable with or without consideration.

Only four months. R.C. 2106.22 treats an antenuptial, postnuptial, or separation agreement involving a decedent as valid unless someone acts in time. That means starting an action to set it aside within four months after the court appoints the executor or administrator. Alternatively, someone must otherwise attack its validity within that same period.

The Supreme Court of Ohio’s probate form summarizing a surviving spouse’s rights lists this challenge right. It warns that a spouse who misses the deadline forfeits the right.

For that reason, a surviving spouse who questions an Ohio prenuptial agreement should act quickly after the estate opens. Likewise, couples signing one today should keep clear records of their disclosure, since those records may matter within that short window.

1. Disclose property fully. Cover the nature, value, and extent of what each partner owns.
2. Keep the process voluntary. Avoid pressure, surprise, or one-sided negotiation.
3. Check the terms. Remove anything that could encourage divorce.
4. Get both signatures. Each partner signs the written agreement before the wedding day.
5. Use a signed writing for later changes. Modifications after marriage must meet R.C. 3103.061.

An Ohio prenuptial agreement usually covers:

• Assets that stay separate at divorce
• Treatment of property acquired during the marriage
• Spousal support terms
• Estate rights, such as any waiver of the right to take against a will
• A schedule of each partner’s property and values
• Both partners’ signatures