Michigan prenup checklist.

Signing formalities

Confirm the complete agreement and every incorporated schedule use the required form and signatures.

• MCL 566.132(1)(c) · An agreement upon consideration of marriage, except mutual promises to marry, is void unless written and signed by the party against whom enforcement is sought.

Acknowledgment

Check whether the agreement or a related instrument uses an acknowledgment, notarization, witness, or recording formality.

No separate source record is catalogued for this topic. That is a research-coverage statement, not a claim that no applicable law exists.

Effective date

Identify the event and date on which the agreement says it becomes effective.

• MCL 557.28 · A qualifying property contract made in contemplation of marriage remains effective after the contemplated marriage occurs.
• Reed v. Reed, 265 Mich. App. 131, 693 N.W.2d 825 (2005) · Later facts may make enforcement unfair and unreasonable, but Reed requires circumstances unforeseeable and not contemplated when the agreement was made.
• Rinvelt v. Rinvelt, 190 Mich. App. 372, 475 N.W.2d 478 (1991) · Rinvelt recognized divorce-related antenuptial agreements; Reed held an older agreement was not void merely because it predated Rinvelt.
• MCL 557.28; 2025 Mich. S.B. 160 · Michigan has no enacted UPAA or UPMAA schedule; Senate Bill 160 passed the Senate in 2025 but remains proposed, so current statutes and cases govern.

Permitted subjects

Map each material clause to a subject the cited authorities address and flag terms requiring separate authority.

• MCL 557.28 · A contract relating to property made between persons in contemplation of marriage remains in full force after marriage.

Property

Reconcile property labels with title, income, appreciation, debt, and disposition terms.

• Reed v. Reed, 265 Mich. App. 131, 693 N.W.2d 825 (2005) · Courts construe an enforceable antenuptial agreement as a contract, applying plain language, definitions, schedules, and triggers.
• MCL 552.401 · A court may award a share of property acquired by the other spouse when contribution to its acquisition, improvement, or accumulation is proved.
• MCL 700.2205 · Before or after marriage, survivor rights may be waived by a written contract, agreement, or waiver signed by the waiving party after fair disclosure.

Spousal support

Identify every support waiver, cap, formula, review event, and enforcement-time safeguard.

• MCL 552.23(1) · If estates and effects are insufficient for suitable support, a divorce court may award part of the other estate and spousal support as just and reasonable.

Children and support

Flag any term that attempts to predetermine child support, custody, or another child-related decision.

• MCL 552.605 · Courts apply the child-support formula and may deviate only with required findings; the parties' agreement does not eliminate those requirements.
• MCL 722.23 · Michigan's statutory best-interest factors govern child-custody determinations and cannot be conclusively fixed in a premarital agreement.

Amendment and revocation

Confirm every claimed amendment or revocation is complete and follows the applicable form.

• Reed v. Reed, 265 Mich. App. 131 (2005); MCL 566.132 · Michigan has no enacted UPAA-style amendment section; a claimed change must satisfy the agreement, writing rules, contract doctrine, and postnuptial or transaction-specific law.
• Skaates v. Kayser, 333 Mich. App. 61, 963 N.W.2d 31 (2020) · Skaates explains that a postnuptial agreement is not invalid per se when it promotes marriage rather than encouraging divorce and evaluates separate counsel and negotiation.

Voluntariness

Build a factual timeline of drafts, negotiations, pressure, capacity, language access, and signing.

• Reed v. Reed, 265 Mich. App. 131, 693 N.W.2d 825 (2005) · Reed permits avoidance for fraud, duress, mistake, misrepresentation, or material nondisclosure; execution-time unconscionability; or unforeseeable later changes making enforcement unfair.
• Reed v. Reed, 265 Mich. App. 131, 693 N.W.2d 825 (2005) · Reed's first branch asks whether fraud, duress, mistake, misrepresentation, or nondisclosure of material fact affected execution.

Financial disclosure

Compare the agreement and schedules against assets, debts, income, business interests, trusts, and any waiver.

• Reed v. Reed, 265 Mich. App. 131, 693 N.W.2d 825 (2005) · A Reed nondisclosure challenge must concern a material fact; schedules, actual knowledge, negotiations, and the omission's effect matter.
• In re Benker Estate, 416 Mich. 681, 331 N.W.2d 193 (1982) · Benker requires a survivor-rights waiver to be fair, equitable, reasonable, voluntary, and understanding after fair disclosure within the parties' confidential relationship.
• In re Benker Estate, 416 Mich. 681, 331 N.W.2d 193 (1982) · Benker applied a rebuttable nondisclosure presumption on cumulative facts including complete waiver, wealth disparity, secretive finances, no disclosure recital, no separate counsel, and drafting-process defects.

Independent counsel

Record who advised each party, when advice occurred, and which draft was reviewed.

• Reed v. Reed, 265 Mich. App. 131 (2005); In re Benker Estate, 416 Mich. 681 (1982) · Separate representation, advice opportunity, negotiation, and conflicts materially affect voluntariness and fairness, but counsel is not a categorical formality.

Timing

Measure the time between first draft, material revisions, legal review, wedding, and signing.

• Reed v. Reed, 265 Mich. App. 131 (2005); Allard v. Allard, 318 Mich. App. 583 (2017) · Michigan has no fixed waiting period; delivery, negotiation, counsel access, alternatives, wedding plans, and actual pressure determine timing's significance.

Public assistance

Identify support terms that could interact with public-benefit eligibility at enforcement.

No separate source record is catalogued for this topic. That is a research-coverage statement, not a claim that no applicable law exists.

Void marriage

Identify whether the agreement addresses a marriage later determined to be void.

No separate source record is catalogued for this topic. That is a research-coverage statement, not a claim that no applicable law exists.

Other limitations

Identify severability, limitations, public-policy, choice-of-law, and other enforcement boundaries.

• Reed v. Reed, 265 Mich. App. 131, 693 N.W.2d 825 (2005) · Reed places proof and persuasion burdens on the challenger, subject to Benker's fact-specific disclosure presumption and other applicable doctrine.
• Reed v. Reed, 265 Mich. App. 131, 693 N.W.2d 825 (2005) · Reed separately allows avoidance when the agreement was unconscionable when executed, focusing on the bargain and formation record then.
• Allard v. Allard, 318 Mich. App. 583, 899 N.W.2d 420 (2017) · Allard holds parties cannot use an antenuptial agreement to deprive a divorce court of equitable discretion under MCL 552.23(1) and MCL 552.401.