How long before the wedding should you sign a prenup?
This free planner counts back from your wedding date to four dated deadlines for England & Wales: the day to start, the day to have swapped financial disclosure, the day to have taken independent legal advice, and the date to have your prenuptial agreement signed by.
How the four dates are worked out
Signed by, 28 days before
The gap exists so neither of you can later say you were cornered by the wedding. You can check how your agreement scores on timing and the other factors a court weighs.
Independent advice by, 42 days before
Two weeks before signing. Advice taken the night before the wedding proves very little, which is the whole reason for building the gap in.
Disclosure exchanged by, 56 days before
Two weeks before advice. A solicitor cannot tell either of you whether the deal is sensible until you both know what the other one has. Our disclosure checklist sets out what each of you needs to gather.
Start by, 70 days before
Two weeks before disclosure closes, so about ten weeks before the ceremony. This is the conversation about what you actually want the agreement to do, which is usually the slowest part. Our calculator is a useful way to open it, because it shows what is on the table without an agreement.
These are planning dates, not legal deadlines. The 28-day gap is a long-standing convention in England and Wales rather than a rule, and an agreement here is never automatically binding — a court decides how much weight to give it. Miss a date and nothing is lost automatically: these describe the order that gives a court the least to criticise. The FAQs below explain where the convention comes from.
Prenup timing FAQs
At least 28 days before the ceremony is the convention in England & Wales, and it is the gap this planner works to. In practice you want longer, because financial disclosure and independent legal advice both have to happen first, so about ten weeks from a standing start is realistic. Signing in the last few days is one of the quickest ways to weaken a prenuptial agreement.
It is not a rule, which is the first thing to say. It is the practice of signing at least 28 days before the wedding so that neither of you can argue you were rushed. The Law Commission recommended it in 2014, and the Ministry of Justice proposed it again as a statutory safeguard in its A fairer end to relationships consultation in June 2026, but no such law has been enacted. A court in England & Wales still decides the weight to give an agreement under Radmacher v Granatino [2010] UKSC 42, and timing is one of the things it looks at.
Not until the ceremony, and even then you have a route. Inside 28 days an agreement carries less weight than one signed with room to spare, but a signed agreement with disclosure and advice behind it still tells a court what you both intended, and that is far better than nothing. If the date is genuinely on top of you, the calmer option is to marry and sign a postnuptial agreement soon afterwards. Either way, talk to us before you decide.
Allow about ten weeks end to end. The drafting itself is quick, our guided online prenuptial agreement takes most couples under an hour and the document is ready straight away. What takes the time is everything around it: agreeing what you want, gathering and exchanging financial disclosure, and each of you getting an appointment with your own solicitor. See how the process runs.
Not a prenup, because a prenuptial agreement is by definition made before the marriage. The equivalent afterwards is a postnuptial agreement, and it does the same job. A court assesses it the same way, under Radmacher v Granatino [2010] UKSC 42, and with no wedding date bearing down there is no argument about being rushed. Our online agreement is written for couples who have not yet married, so if you are already married, get in touch and we will tell you where you stand.
No. Scotland is a separate legal system, and a Scottish prenuptial agreement is a different instrument tested a different way, so the 28-day convention of England & Wales does not carry across. Northern Ireland is separate again. This planner, and the agreement we produce, cover England & Wales only, so if you are marrying elsewhere you will need a solicitor in that jurisdiction.
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Create your prenuptial agreement online today, professionally prepared, instant PDF download included, from just £199. Built for couples across England & Wales who want clear, fair financial peace of mind before marriage. Read our FAQs, explore our prenup guides, or get in touch.
Start Your Prenuptial AgreementNew to prenups? Read our plain-English guides When Should You Sign a Prenup? Timing and the 28-Day Rule.