The Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements ActThe Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act

The Uniform Law Commission (ULC) approved the Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act (the Act) at its 121st annual meeting in July. The Act provides a new way to bring predictability and consistency to premarital and marital agreements and to address the problems that arise when marriages begin in one state and end in another.  

As recently as the 1960s, state courts generally refused to enforce premarital agreements that altered the parties’ rights at divorce, either because the courts viewed such agreements as modifying the terms of a particular state-created legal status (that is, marriage), or because of fears the agreements would encourage divorce. Views of marriage have changed and, currently, every state enforces at least s...