What do you need for a prenup? The process goes far quicker and smoother when you have the right information ready before you start. Gathering it is usually the slowest part of making an agreement, so getting organised up front saves real time. Here is exactly what both partners should pull together.
Personal details
- Full legal names and current addresses of both partners
- Your intended wedding date – this drives the signing timeline and the 28-day minimum
Each partner’s finances
This is the heart of it – a full and honest picture from both of you, which forms the disclosure schedule attached to the agreement:
- Property and land, with rough values and any mortgages
- Savings, investments and shares, including ISAs
- Pensions – note the cash-equivalent transfer value (CETV), as pensions are often the most valuable and most overlooked asset
- Business interests and any shareholdings
- Significant personal assets and valuables
- Income from all sources
- Debts and liabilities – mortgages, loans, credit cards
- Expected inheritances or trust interests, where known
This honest exchange is what lets a court treat the agreement as fairly made (see full and frank disclosure and are prenups legally binding?). Rough, honest figures are fine – you do not need everything valued to the penny (see how to value your assets). What matters is that nothing significant is hidden or understated.
Do you need documents, or just figures?
To start, honest figures are enough – you can fill in the agreement from what you know. But it is worth keeping supporting documents to back up the disclosure schedule, in case the figures are ever queried later:
- Recent bank and savings statements
- Mortgage and loan statements
- Pension statements showing the CETV
- Property valuations or estimates
- Business accounts, if relevant
Your intentions
Beyond the numbers, have a clear idea of what you each want to protect and how you want things treated – separate property, the family home, future assets, and what happens on divorce or death. Our guide to what to include helps you frame these decisions, and how to make a prenup fair keeps them balanced.
Witness details for signing
When it comes to signing, you will each need an independent adult witness. You do not need this at the start, but it is worth lining someone up early so signing is not delayed (see how to sign a prenup).
A quick pre-start checklist
- ☐ Both partners’ names, addresses and the wedding date
- ☐ A full list of each partner’s assets, income and debts
- ☐ Pension CETVs and rough property values
- ☐ Supporting statements filed for reference
- ☐ A clear idea of what you each want to protect
- ☐ An independent witness lined up for signing
Gathering the information that takes longest
Some figures are at your fingertips; others take weeks to obtain, so request those first. Pensions are the classic example: to disclose a pension properly you want its cash-equivalent transfer value (CETV), and providers can take two to three weeks to send it. Property values may need a quick estate-agent appraisal or an online estimate. Business interests can be the trickiest of all – if you own a company or a share of one, a rough valuation and the latest accounts are usually enough for disclosure, but pulling them together takes time. The practical rule is to start with the slow items on day one and fill in the fast ones (bank balances, ISAs, loan balances) later, so nothing sits waiting on a statement you could have requested at the outset (see how to value your assets and protecting a pension with a prenup).
Do not forget debts and liabilities
Disclosure is not only about what you own – it is equally about what you owe. Mortgages, personal loans, car finance, credit-card balances, student loans and any business borrowing all belong in the picture. This matters for two reasons. First, a full and honest disclosure means the net position, not a flattering list of assets with the debts left off. Second, how pre-marriage debts are treated is often something couples want the prenup to address – for example, agreeing that a debt one partner brought into the marriage stays theirs. You cannot make that kind of fair decision if the debt was never disclosed in the first place (see pre-marriage debts and prenups and getting a prenup when in debt).
A worked example of pulling it together
For example, imagine one partner owns a flat bought before the marriage, has a workplace pension and an ISA, and a modest car loan. The other partner rents, has savings, some shares from an employer scheme, and a student loan. On day one they each request their pension CETV and get a quick valuation estimate for the flat. Over the next week they list their savings, ISA, shares, car loan and student loan from the most recent statements, and note each partner’s income. Two weeks in, the pension figures arrive and the picture is complete. They now have everything needed to fill in the agreement and build the disclosure schedule – and, crucially, an honest net position on both sides. The gathering took a fortnight, almost all of it waiting on the pension providers rather than doing the work (see the disclosure schedule).
Why honesty here protects the whole agreement
The single most important quality of this information is that it is complete and honest. If one partner later shows that a significant asset was hidden or understated, the other can argue they agreed without the full picture – and that can unravel the entire agreement, however carefully everything else was done. A court weighing a prenup under the discretion it keeps in the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 pays close attention to whether both partners had a proper appreciation of what they were agreeing to, which flows directly from honest disclosure. You do not need every figure valued to the penny; you do need nothing meaningful left out (see hidden assets and prenups and full and frank disclosure).
Information you might overlook
Beyond the obvious assets, a few things are easy to forget but worth capturing. Expected inheritances or interests under a family trust should be noted where you know about them, even if they have not yet materialised, so how they are treated can be decided openly (see protecting a future inheritance). Employer share schemes, stock options and bonuses that have not yet vested are commonly missed, as are digital assets such as cryptocurrency. Valuable personal items – a car, jewellery, art or collectibles – belong in the picture too if they are significant. And if either of you owns anything abroad, note it: overseas assets can take longer to value and may raise cross-border questions worth flagging early. None of this needs to be exact at the disclosure stage; the aim is simply that nothing meaningful is left off the list, so both partners are agreeing with the full picture in front of them.
What do you need for a prenup? A quick summary
In short, what you need for a prenup is: both partners’ personal details and the wedding date; a full and honest picture of each partner’s assets, income and debts; a clear idea of what you each want to protect and how things should be treated; and, when it comes to signing, an independent adult witness. Gather these and the agreement itself comes together quickly – our step-by-step guide takes you through the rest.
Why each item is on the list: the court's own checklist
The financial list above is not arbitrary; it mirrors what a court is required to look at. Section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 directs the court on divorce to consider the income, earning capacity, property and other financial resources which each party has or is likely to have in the foreseeable future, their financial needs, obligations and responsibilities, the standard of living during the marriage, their ages, any disability, their contributions, and any benefit such as a pension a party will lose because the marriage has ended. Property, savings, pensions, business interests, income, debts and expected inheritances are simply that list written as a form. Gathering it before you draft the agreement means the disclosure schedule answers the same questions a judge would ask.
The standard of detail comes from the Law Commission. Its 2014 report treated financial disclosure as a requirement of a qualifying nuptial agreement, and at paragraph 6.88 it explained that the requirement is disclosure of material information about the other party's financial situation, not of every asset down to the last pound. Rough, honest figures with a date meet that standard; a hidden pension or an undeclared property does not, and under the test in Radmacher v Granatino a partner who did not know about something material can say they signed without a full appreciation of its implications.
The two non-financial items have legal roots too. The wedding date drives the timetable because the Law Commission recommended signing at least 28 days before the ceremony, and because section 31 of the Marriage Act 1949 requires notice of marriage to be given at least 28 days before a civil ceremony can take place, so a couple who sign when they give notice have both clocks covered. The witness is needed because a prenup is executed as a deed under section 1 of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989, which requires each signature to be made in the presence of a witness who attests it. An independent adult, not a party and ideally not a close relative, is the safe choice.
What you need for a prenup: FAQs
Do you need documents, or just figures?
Honest figures are enough to start; keep statements to back up the disclosure schedule (see the disclosure schedule).
Do you need to value everything exactly?
No – rough, honest values are fine (see how to value your assets).
What happens if you leave something off?
Understating or omitting a significant asset can weaken the whole agreement (see hidden assets and prenups).
Do you need to include pensions?
Yes – pensions are often a couple’s biggest asset and should be disclosed with their CETV (see protecting a pension with a prenup).
Do future or expected assets need to be included?
Note expected inheritances or trust interests where known; how they are treated is a matter for the terms (see should a prenup cover future assets?).
How long does gathering the information take?
Usually a week or two, mostly waiting on pension and mortgage statements (see how long does a prenup take?).
Do you have to disclose debts as well as assets?
Yes – disclosure means your net position, so mortgages, loans and credit-card balances belong in the picture (see pre-marriage debts and prenups).
What information does the other partner get to see?
Each partner sees the other’s disclosure – that mutual honesty is the whole point, and it forms the schedule attached to the agreement (see the disclosure schedule).
Do you need your partner’s information to start?
You can begin gathering your own straight away, but the agreement needs both partners’ full disclosure to be complete, so coordinate early (see the prenup checklist).
Create your prenuptial agreement online
UK Prenup lets couples in England & Wales create a clear, fair prenuptial agreement online from £199, with your document generated instantly as a PDF. 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.