Legal Definitions - Uniform Premarital Agreements Act

The Uniform Premarital Agreements Act (UPAA) is a model statute created in 1983 that provides guidelines for drafting prenuptial contracts. The UPAA ensures that prenuptial agreements are complete and enforceable.

According to the UPAA, a premarital agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties. It only becomes effective upon marriage. The agreement can cover various aspects such as assets, support, and obligations during the marriage, at death, and upon divorce.

For example, if a couple decides to get married and one of them owns a business, they may want to create a prenuptial agreement that outlines how the business will be divided in case of a divorce. Another example is if one partner has significant debt, they may want to include provisions in the prenuptial agreement that protect the other partner from being responsible for that debt.

The UPAA has been adopted in about one-third of the states in the United States. Its purpose is to provide a more certain framework for drafting prenuptial agreements and to ensure that both parties are protected in case of a divorce.