What Should a Stay-at-Home Parent Ask For in a Florida Prenup?

What Florida Gives a Spouse Who Stopped Working, With No Prenup

Florida courts consider the contribution of each spouse to the marriage when deciding alimony, including services rendered in homemaking, child care, education, and career building of the other party. A spouse who left the workforce to raise children has a recognized contribution under Florida law.

The court looks at the earning capacities, educational levels, vocational skills, and employability of both spouses. A spouse who stopped working for ten years will have diminished earning capacity. The court weighs whether that spouse can obtain the skills or education to become self-supporting before any alimony terminates.

Florida law also considers the responsibilities each spouse will have with regard to any minor children. A parent who will continue as the primary caregiver after divorce has different needs than one who shares custody equally.

The standard of living established during the marriage matters. A family that lived on $200,000 a year creates different expectations than one that lived on $60,000. The court measures need and ability to pay against what the marriage actually looked like.

Without a prenup, the court weighs all of these factors. A prenup can change the outcome by waiving or modifying alimony before any of these facts are known.

What a One-Sided Prenup Takes Away

A prenup can waive alimony entirely. Florida law says parties may contract with respect to the establishment, modification, waiver, or elimination of spousal support. If you sign a waiver, you cannot later ask a court to award alimony based on your years at home.

A broad release in the agreement can cover more than you expect. The Florida Supreme Court held that a prenup waiving all rights and claims to the other spouse’s property includes assets titled in the other spouse’s name and their enhancement from marital labor or funds, with no separate enhancement clause needed. A spouse who helped build a business or a practice by running the household may have no claim to its growth.

The timing of the agreement matters. Florida courts have voided a prenup signed within 24 hours of the wedding and set aside one whose final draft arrived at 11:30 p.m. the night before. The pressure of a wedding date can become evidence of duress.

An agreement that leaves you eligible for public assistance at separation lets a court order support to avoid that eligibility, but that safety net is far below what alimony might otherwise provide. The question is what you give up between the safety net and what Florida law would otherwise allow.

The Provisions to Ask For

Ask for alimony that reflects your years out of the workforce. The agreement can set a formula tied to the length of the marriage, so that ten years of staying home produces more support than two years. The formula should state a monthly amount, a duration, and whether it adjusts for inflation or income changes.

Ask for a share of retirement contributions made during the marriage. A working spouse who funds a 401(k) while you raise children is building an asset. The prenup can provide that retirement contributions made during the marriage remain marital property subject to division, even if everything else stays separate.

Ask for a sunset clause. A sunset clause provides that the agreement expires after a certain number of years of marriage. A couple married for twenty years is not the same couple that signed the agreement at twenty-eight. The clause can void the entire agreement or void only certain provisions, such as the alimony waiver.

Ask for a payout per year of marriage if alimony is waived. The agreement can provide a lump sum or installment payment calculated by the number of years married. A spouse who gave up a career for fifteen years receives more than one who stayed home for three.

Ask that the working spouse maintain life insurance naming you as beneficiary, in an amount that replaces the support you would lose if the working spouse dies. The agreement can require proof of coverage each year.

The Support That Cannot Be Waived

Temporary alimony and temporary attorney’s fees while a divorce is pending cannot be waived in a Florida prenup. A spouse who needs support during the divorce process can still ask a court for it, regardless of what the agreement says.

Child support cannot be decided by a prenup. Florida law states that the right of a child to support may not be adversely affected by a premarital agreement. Any provision purporting to set or limit child support is unenforceable.

Custody and time-sharing are never in the agreement. Those decisions belong to the court at the time of divorce, based on the the children’s interests at that time. A prenup cannot bind a court to a parenting plan.

The public-assistance floor applies. If a provision that eliminates or modifies alimony leaves one spouse eligible for public assistance at separation or dissolution, a court may order the other spouse to provide support to the extent necessary to avoid that eligibility. The agreement cannot push a spouse below that line.

Children Are Never in the Agreement

A prenup cannot decide child support. Florida law is explicit that the right of a child to support may not be adversely affected by a premarital agreement. The court calculates child support at the time of divorce based on income, time-sharing, and the children’s needs.

Custody and parenting time belong to the court. A prenup cannot bind a judge to a schedule or a decision-making arrangement. The court decides what is in the children’s interests as they are at the time, not as the parents imagined them before marriage.

A provision that tries to trade alimony for custody, or that conditions support on a custody outcome, is unenforceable. The children’s rights are separate from the parents’ property arrangement.

If the Plan Changes After the Wedding: the Postnup

A couple can sign a postnuptial agreement after the wedding to address what the prenup did not anticipate. Florida law allows a premarital agreement to be amended, revoked, or abandoned by a written agreement signed by the parties after marriage. The amendment is enforceable without new consideration.

A postnup is judged under Florida court decisions, not the premarital statute. The Florida Supreme Court has applied two grounds for setting aside a marital agreement. A spouse can set aside the agreement by establishing fraud, deceit, duress, coercion, misrepresentation, or overreaching. A spouse can also set it aside if the agreement was unreasonable and the other spouse did not provide full and fair disclosure. A postnup that waives death rights must also meet the probate code’s requirement of fair disclosure.

The firm drafts a postnup for a flat fee from $2,950. The same process applies, with each spouse represented separately, financial disclosure attached as exhibits, and signing from home by Florida online notarization with the notary and two witnesses on video.

The Disclosure Exhibit Protects the Spouse With Less

Financial disclosure is the foundation of an enforceable agreement. Florida law provides that a prenup is not enforceable if the challenging spouse was not provided a fair and reasonable disclosure of the property or financial obligations of the other party, and did not voluntarily waive that disclosure in writing, and did not have adequate knowledge of the other party’s finances.

The firm attaches each spouse’s financial disclosure as exhibits to the agreement. The disclosure lists assets, debts, income, and obligations. When a dispute arises years later, the exhibits show what each spouse knew at the time.

The First District Court of Appeal set aside a 2006 postnup where the husband understated his income and omitted about $6.5 million in receivables. The court held that postnuptial agreements are not enforceable if entered into in the absence of full and fair disclosure of the assets at issue. The spouse who received incomplete disclosure did not lose her right to challenge the agreement.

A spouse with less property benefits most from disclosure. The exhibit proves you understood what you were giving up.

What It Costs, and Who Pays

The firm drafts a prenup for one spouse for a flat fee from $2,450. The fee covers the first draft, up to two rounds of revisions with the other spouse’s lawyer, the financial disclosure schedules, and the signing with two witnesses and a notary. The other spouse hires their own lawyer.

The firm reviews a prenup the other side drafted for a flat fee from $750. A review gives you an opinion on what the agreement does, what it gives up, and what changes to request.

Who pays is negotiable. Some couples split the cost. Some have the working spouse pay both lawyers as a sign of good faith. The prenup itself can address how attorneys’ fees are handled if the agreement is ever litigated.

Fees posted October 6, 2026, honored 90 days. Government fees are paid to the clerk.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common Situations

A woman planned to leave her consulting job after the wedding to care for the couple’s future children. Her fiance asked her to sign a prenup waiving alimony. She requested provisions tied to years of marriage, so that each year she stayed home added to her support. The final agreement included durational alimony calculated at a monthly amount for each year married, a share of retirement contributions made during the marriage, and a sunset clause that would void the waiver after fifteen years. The drafting fee was a flat $2,450, and the other spouse paid their own lawyer.

A man received a prenup from his fiancee’s lawyer two weeks before the wedding. The agreement waived his rights to property titled in her name and to alimony beyond a small lump sum. He hired his own lawyer and negotiated for disclosure of her full financial picture, a payout per year of marriage if the marriage lasted more than five years, and a requirement that she maintain life insurance naming him as beneficiary. The final agreement protected him if he later reduced his work to care for children. The review and negotiation cost him a flat fee from $750 plus the cost of his revisions.

Sources of Law

• Premarital agreements, including the public-assistance limit in subsection (7)(b): Fla. Stat. §61.079
• Alimony, the forms and the length-of-marriage presumptions: Fla. Stat. §61.08
• Waiver of spousal rights: Fla. Stat. §732.702
• Casto v. Casto, 508 So. 2d 330 (Fla. 1987); Del Vecchio v. Del Vecchio, 143 So. 2d 17 (Fla. 1962); Hahamovitch v. Hahamovitch, 174 So. 3d 983 (Fla. 2015); Kearney v. Kearney, 129 So. 3d 1136 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013); Stregack v. Moldofsky, 474 So. 2d 206 (Fla. 1985). Opinions in the firm’s corpus.

Related Guides

What I Have Seen Happen to the Spouse Who Stayed Home

In 14 years of law practice, I have seen prenups that gave a stay-at-home parent nothing after decades of raising children, and I have drafted prenups that recognized every year out of the workforce. The difference is in what the agreement says, not in what the law provides by default.

I have a few take-home points.

The first is that Florida law allows a prenup to waive alimony entirely. A spouse who signs that waiver has no claim to support, no matter how long the marriage lasted or how much earning capacity was lost. The Florida Supreme Court decided a case in 2015 where a wife sought a share of property acquired during 22 years of marriage. The agreement released her claims to property “now owned or hereafter acquired” in the husband’s name. The Court held that “because the broad language in the prenuptial agreement includes a waiver and release of all rights and claims to the other spouse’s nonmarital property,” the release covered assets titled in his name and their appreciation. A spouse who helped build a business by running the household had no claim to its growth.

The second is that financial disclosure protects the spouse with less. An appeals court set aside a 2006 postnup where a husband understated his income and omitted about $6.5 million in receivables. The court held that marital agreements are not enforceable if entered into in the absence of full and fair disclosure of the assets at issue. The exhibit you attach to the agreement proves what you knew when you signed.

Avoid signing any agreement without your own lawyer reviewing it.

One honest limit is that a prenup cannot protect you from a spouse who hides assets after the wedding, because the disclosure only captures what exists at signing.

Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., admitted in Florida since 2012. General information rather than advice on your situation.

Updated on October 30, 2026. Reviewed by Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., Fla. Bar No. 99502. General information about Florida law, not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created. Do not send confidential information until we have agreed to represent you.