Wondering how to get a prenup? It is more straightforward than most couples expect. In England and Wales a prenuptial agreement is a written agreement the two of you make before the wedding, and getting one is a seven-step process: start early, talk it through, disclose your finances, prepare the agreement, each take independent advice, sign it in front of a witness, and keep it safe. Most of it is a matter of honesty and time. This guide takes each step in turn, explains the law behind it and what goes wrong when it is skipped, and then covers how long it takes, whether to go online or to a solicitor, and what it costs.
In short: Seven steps: start early, talk it through, disclose your finances, prepare the agreement, take independent advice, sign in front of a witness, keep it safe. The Law Commission recommends signing at least 28 days before the wedding, each of you in front of an independent witness. Online from £750 or through a solicitor; on either route, each of you should take your own advice.
Can you get a prenup in the UK?
Yes. Any couple planning to marry or form a civil partnership in England and Wales can make a prenuptial agreement, and the courts have treated them as serious documents since the Supreme Court's decision in Radmacher v Granatino in 2010. A prenup is not automatically binding here: no agreement can stop either of you asking a court to decide the finances on divorce, and section 34 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 makes void any clause that tries. What the court does is give effect to an agreement each of you entered into freely, with a full appreciation of its implications, unless it would be unfair to hold you to it. A prenup made the way this guide describes is therefore given significant weight, and in many cases decisive weight. Scotland has its own, more contractual, law and Northern Ireland follows an approach close to England's; this guide is about England and Wales. For the legal position in full, see are prenups legally binding?
How to get a prenup: the seven steps
Each step below exists because of something a court will later look for. The first four build the agreement; the last three are what give it weight.
1. Start early
Begin well before the wedding. The Law Commission's 2014 report recommended that a qualifying nuptial agreement be made at least 28 days before the ceremony, and although that was never enacted, it is the yardstick everyone uses. Aim for two to three months, and treat the moment you are engaged as not too soon. The legal reason is the first limb of the Radmacher test: the agreement must be freely entered into, without undue pressure, and the closer to the wedding it is signed, the easier it is to argue later that the date itself was the pressure. Section 27 of the Marriage Act 1949 requires you to give notice of a civil marriage, and section 31 then imposes a 28-day wait, so giving notice and signing the prenup in the same fortnight is a natural way to satisfy both. See when to sign a prenup and, if the wedding is close, last-minute prenups. What goes wrong: an agreement produced in the final week, by one partner, with the other given no real chance to take advice, is the classic fact pattern in the cases where an agreement has been discounted for pressure.
2. Talk it through together
Agree the broad approach as a couple before anything is written: what stays separate, what you share, and how you want to treat the home, pensions and anything one of you expects to inherit. This conversation is often the most valuable part of the whole exercise, and approaching it as a joint plan rather than one partner's demand sets the tone a court will later recognise. Our guide to how to talk about a prenup helps if you are not sure how to raise it, and what to include in a prenup gives you the list of decisions. What goes wrong: couples who skip this step end up negotiating through the document, which is slower, more expensive and more likely to leave one of them feeling the terms were imposed.
3. Disclose your finances
Each of you sets out your assets, income, pensions and debts honestly, and the figures go into a disclosure schedule attached to the agreement. This is the second limb of the Radmacher test: a full appreciation of the implications, which neither of you can have without knowing what the other has. The Supreme Court said the question is whether there was any material lack of disclosure, information or advice, and the Law Commission defined the requirement as disclosure of material information rather than an inventory of every possession. Honest round figures are enough to start; statements and valuations back them up. See full and frank disclosure, the information you will need and how to value your assets. What goes wrong: a hidden or understated asset is the quickest way to see an agreement disregarded, because the partner who was kept in the dark can say they never understood what they were giving up.
4. Prepare the agreement
Decide what the agreement should say and have it prepared. The substance should follow the law's own lines. The Supreme Court's 2025 decision in Standish v Standish confirmed that the sharing principle on divorce applies to matrimonial property, the wealth built up during the marriage, and not to non-matrimonial property such as what each of you brought in, inherited or was given, unless you later treat it as shared. An agreement that lists the pre-marital assets, says they stay separate, and sets a fair approach to what you build together is asking the court to do what it would be inclined to do anyway, which is why such agreements are respected. It must also leave room for needs: section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 requires the court to consider each party's reasonable needs and, first, the welfare of any child under eighteen, and no agreement can contract out of either. You can have the agreement prepared online from your answers, as UK Prenup does, or have a solicitor draft it from scratch; the choice is covered below. A prenup checklist makes sure nothing is missed, and how to make a prenup fair explains the terms a court will respect. What goes wrong: an agreement that leaves one partner with nothing, or tries to fix child maintenance, will be departed from on exactly those points.
5. Take independent legal advice
Each of you should have your own advice, from different solicitors, on the finished agreement. Advice is not a legal requirement today, and in Versteegh v Versteegh the Court of Appeal upheld an agreement signed without it because the wife plainly understood what she was signing. But the Supreme Court called sound legal advice "obviously desirable", because it is the clearest evidence that a party understood the implications, and both the Law Commission and the Ministry of Justice's 2026 consultation on binding nuptial agreements would make independent advice for each party a condition that cannot be waived. With UK Prenup the advice is part of the package: an independent, regulated family-law solicitor meets you, gives you a written advice letter and signs a certificate, for one of you or for both. See independent legal advice, do you need a solicitor? and how to choose a prenup solicitor. What goes wrong: a partner who had no advice, or shared the other's solicitor, has an easy argument that they did not appreciate what they signed.
6. Sign it properly
Both of you sign and date the agreement, each in the presence of an independent adult witness who also signs, well before the wedding and without anyone standing over you. Most prenups are signed as a deed, which section 1 of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 governs: the document must say it is a deed, each signature must be made in the presence of a witness who attests it, and it must be delivered, which in practice means dated and handed over. A deed is not required for the agreement to carry weight, but it is good practice, it removes any argument about the formalities, and it is the form the 2026 proposals would require. A witness should not be the other partner, and ideally not a close relative or anyone who benefits from the agreement. See how to sign a prenup, executed as a deed and who can witness a prenup. What goes wrong: an unsigned draft, or one signed by one partner only, is close to worthless as evidence of agreement.
7. Keep it safe
Store the signed original somewhere secure, with the disclosure schedule and the advice letters, and keep a scanned copy as well. A prenup is evidence, and one that neither of you can produce fifteen years later, together with the schedule that shows what each of you knew, is a much weaker document. Tell each other where it is. See storing your prenup and what happens after signing, including when to review it.
How long does it take? Three timelines
The agreement itself is quick to prepare; the time goes on disclosure, advice and the gap before the wedding. With three months in hand, a comfortable schedule is: agree in principle and start gathering statements in the first fortnight; exchange disclosure and prepare the agreement by week six; each take advice by week eight; sign by week nine, a month clear of the wedding. With six weeks, everything has to happen in the first fortnight: statements and disclosure in the first few days, the agreement prepared and advice taken by the end of week two, and signing straight after, which just clears the 28 days if you start on day one and book the advice appointments at the outset. With less than a month, be honest about the risk: a prenup signed in the final days is open to the pressure argument, and it is often better to sign a short agreement now and confirm it with a postnuptial agreement made calmly after the wedding. Our guides to how long a prenup takes and last-minute prenups set out each of these in detail.
Online or through a solicitor?
There are two routes, and they are less different than they look. An online service such as UK Prenup prepares the agreement from the answers you both give, provides the disclosure forms, gives your partner a private page to review and confirm it, and arranges the solicitor's advice before you sign: £750 with advice for one of you, or £1,300 with a solicitor for each of you, VAT included. A solicitor drafts a bespoke agreement and negotiates between you, which suits genuinely complex estates, trusts and overseas assets, and usually runs to four figures for each side. The safeguards are the same on either route: disclosure, advice, time and a fair agreement. See online prenup versus solicitor for the comparison.
Can you write your own prenup? Nothing in the law of England and Wales requires a prenup to be drafted by a solicitor, and nothing stops you writing one yourselves. What the courts look at is whether it was made properly, and the home-written agreements that fail usually fail on disclosure, advice or timing rather than on who typed them. Our guides to writing your own prenup and prenup templates go through what a DIY agreement has to get right.
What you need before you start
Both partners' personal details and the wedding date; a full and honest picture of each partner's assets, income, pensions and debts, with statements to back it up; a clear idea of what you each want to protect and how the home, savings and anything expected from family should be treated; and, for signing, an independent adult witness each. Gathering the statements is the slowest part, so request pension and mortgage figures on day one. Our guide to the information you need for a prenup is the full list.
What it costs
UK Prenup's packages are £750 with an independent solicitor's advice for one of you, or £1,300 with a solicitor for each of you. Solicitors' own fixed fees for drafting and advising on a prenup mostly sit between £1,000 and £2,500 plus VAT for the drafting side, with the other partner's separate advice on top. Our guide to how much a prenup costs has every published price we could find.
A worked example: ten weeks from first conversation to signature
Amara and Josh get engaged in March with a wedding booked for late June. Amara owns the flat they live in and expects to inherit from her grandmother; Josh has student debt and a growing pension. In the first week they talk it through and agree the shape: the flat and the inheritance stay Amara's, everything else they build is shared, and the agreement provides for Josh's housing if they separate. In week two they request pension and mortgage statements. By week five they have both completed the disclosure forms and the agreement is prepared; Josh reviews it on his private page and asks for one change to the maintenance clause, which they agree. In week seven each meets their own solicitor, who sends a written advice letter and signs a certificate. In week nine, seven weeks before the wedding, they sign in front of two colleagues as witnesses and file the original with the schedule and the letters. If the marriage ever ends, every question a court would ask has a documented answer.
How to get a prenup: FAQs
Can you get a prenup in the UK?
Yes. Couples marrying or forming a civil partnership in England and Wales can make one, and a court gives a fair, properly made agreement significant weight under Radmacher v Granatino, although no agreement is automatically binding. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules.
How do you get a prenuptial agreement?
Start early, agree the approach together, exchange full financial disclosure, have the agreement prepared, each take independent legal advice, sign in front of a witness at least 28 days before the wedding, and keep the original safe. Online services prepare the agreement from your answers; a solicitor drafts it bespoke.
How long does it take to get a prenup?
The document itself can be prepared within a day of completing your answers; allow six to twelve weeks overall for disclosure, advice and signing in good time (see how long does a prenup take?).
Do you need a solicitor to get a prenup?
Not by law, but independent advice for each partner is one of the main things a court weighs, and both current packages at UK Prenup include it (see do you need a solicitor?).
Can you get a prenup online?
Yes. An online service prepares a properly structured agreement from both partners' answers for a fixed fee, with the solicitor's advice arranged before you sign.
What if we run out of time before the wedding?
Do not rush it. A prenup signed in the last few days is open to challenge for pressure; a postnuptial agreement made calmly after the wedding is treated on the same principles and is usually the safer course.
Do both of us need to be involved?
Yes. A prenup is a joint agreement: both of you disclose, both take part in the terms, both take advice and both sign freely. An agreement one partner produces for the other to sign is the kind a court looks at hardest.
Create your prenuptial agreement online
UK Prenup lets couples in England & Wales create a prenuptial agreement online, with an independent family-law solicitor's advice before you sign: £750 for one of you, or £1,300 with a solicitor for each of you. See how it works or get started.
UK Prenup is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. A prenuptial agreement in England & Wales is not automatically binding, and both partners should take independent legal advice before signing.