Are prenuptial agreements enforceable in Texas?

Texas treats premarital agreements as strongly enforceable contracts under its codified UPAA.

1. Governing Statute

Texas adopted the UPAA in 1987 as the Texas Uniform Premarital Agreement Act, Tex. Fam. Code §§ 4.001–4.010. Article XVI § 15 of the Texas Constitution also recognizes spouses' rights to partition or characterize property.

2. Formality Requirements

The agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties (§ 4.002). It is enforceable without consideration and becomes effective on marriage (§ 4.004). Oral premarital agreements are unenforceable.

3. Voluntariness

§ 4.006(a)(1) places the burden on the party resisting enforcement to prove they did not sign voluntarily. Texas courts apply a totality-of-the-circumstances test; time pressure alone rarely suffices. No statutory cooling-off period applies, though a meaningful pre-wedding review window is best practice.

4. Disclosure

Under § 4.006(a)(2), the challenger must show the agreement was unconscionable AND, before signing, the challenger was not provided fair and reasonable disclosure, did not waive disclosure in writing, and did not have or reasonably could not have had adequate knowledge of the other party's property/obligations. All three prongs are required.

5. Unconscionability

Unconscionability is a question of law for the court (§ 4.006(b)), determined at execution. Disparity in result alone does not establish unconscionability.

6. What Cannot Be Waived

Child support and child custody cannot be adversely affected (§ 4.003(b)). Texas allows waiver of spousal maintenance (Tex. Fam. Code Ch. 8) and waiver of community-property rights.

7. Key Texas Case Law

Marsh v. Marsh, 949 S.W.2d 734 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1997) confirmed Texas's high bar for setting aside prenups. Sheshunoff v. Sheshunoff, 172 S.W.3d 686 (Tex. App.—Austin 2005) reaffirmed strict enforcement.

This is legal information, not legal advice.