Specialized evidence guide
Business valuation evidence for a prenup
How to document ownership, methods, dates, assumptions, compensation, distributions, appreciation, and later changes.
Manual analysis is separated from the representative source records and topic matrices below.Manual editorial field guide
A valuation number is not self-proving. For prenup review it must be connected to an ownership interest, as-of date, purpose, method, assumptions, source data, and the agreement’s treatment of appreciation, income, control, debt, and sale proceeds.
358 manually authored words · evidence tables continue belowDefine the interest before valuing it
Record entity, jurisdiction, class, percentage, voting rights, options, profit interests, vesting, restrictions, capital accounts, guarantees, and related holdings. Distinguish direct ownership from trusts, holding companies, and contractual participation. The cap table date should match or explain differences from the disclosure schedule.
A headline company value is not the value of one person’s interest. Debt, minority status, marketability, preferences, tax attributes, and transfer restrictions may matter, but each adjustment needs a stated basis.
Make the method reproducible
Preserve the standard and premise of value, income, market, or asset approach, forecasts, comparable transactions, normalization adjustments, discounts, and appraiser instructions. Label book value, tax basis, insured value, owner estimate, and formal appraisal accurately. They answer different questions.
Record who supplied the data and whether later information materially changed it before signing. Do not overwrite a historical disclosure with a current valuation; keep both snapshots.
Separate ownership from economic streams
The agreement may treat salary, bonus, distributions, retained earnings, appreciation, sale proceeds, and personal goodwill differently. Extract each stream and identify who controls its timing. A clause saying the company remains separate may not answer whether marital effort, reinvested earnings, or guarantees create another claim.
Model sale, dilution, recapitalization, capital call, default, disability, and termination events. Cross-check operating agreements, buy-sell terms, lender covenants, and investor rights.
Tie valuation to disclosure evidence
A schedule can state a number without proving delivery, explanation, or supporting material. Build a ledger showing what was provided, when, to whom, and with which draft. Link the state disclosure and property sources without claiming that one valuation method is legally required everywhere.
Editorial provenance
Authorities behind this research path.
These are representative records for the article’s topics. They support the research questions; they do not turn the editorial discussion into a state-specific legal opinion.
- Andrew B. v. Abbie B., 494 P.3d 522 (Alaska 2021) · Ordinary contract interpretation applies, but a court may not add a benefit, fund, or promise the parties did not make merely to repair a one-sided agreement.
- Compton v. Compton, 902 P.2d 805 (Alaska 1995) · A valid prenup is persuasive but not conclusive evidence of intent to keep property separate; a court may examine the parties' treatment of particular assets and find transmutation while the agreement remains valid.
- Alaska Stat. § 13.12.213 · A surviving spouse may waive elective-share, homestead, exempt-property, and family-allowance rights before or after marriage in a signed writing; the statute preserves voluntariness and execution-time unconscionability plus disclosure, written-waiver, and knowledge safeguards.
- Goodwin v. Goodwin, 592 So. 2d 212 (Ala. 1991) · Goodwin construes section 43-8-72 and confirms that the scope of a surviving spouse's waiver depends on the agreement's language, including whether an all-rights clause reaches statutory benefits and pre-waiver testamentary benefits.
- Ark. Code Ann. § 9-11-401; 1987 Ark. Acts 715, § 1 · A premarital agreement is a written agreement between prospective spouses made in contemplation of marriage; property includes broad present, future, income, and earnings interests.
- C.R.S. § 14-2-302 · Colorado defines premarital and marital agreements, amendment, marital rights, property, records, and signatures, including electronic records and signatures.
- Arlotta v. Arlotta, A24A0961 (Ga. Ct. App. Oct. 30, 2024) · Arlotta described the Scherer criteria as the governing enforceability framework and reversed a ruling that invalidated property and alimony limits merely because they differed from statutory default remedies.
- O.C.G.A. § 19-3-66 · Georgia provides for equitable enforcement of an antenuptial agreement at the instance of the marriage parties and, after death, specified offspring or heirs under the referenced probate and equity provisions.
- Haw. Rev. Stat. § 572D-1 · Hawaii defines a premarital agreement as an agreement between prospective spouses made in contemplation of marriage and effective upon marriage, and defines property broadly to include present, future, legal, equitable, vested, contingent, real, personal, income, and earnings interests.
- Idaho Code § 32-921 · Idaho defines a premarital agreement as an agreement between prospective spouses made in contemplation of marriage and effective upon marriage, and defines property broadly to include present, future, legal, equitable, vested, contingent, real, personal, income, and earnings interests.
- Ind. Code §§ 31-11-3-2 to -3 · Indiana defines a premarital agreement as an agreement between prospective spouses made in contemplation of marriage and effective upon marriage, and defines property broadly to include present, future, legal, equitable, vested, contingent, real, personal, income, and earnings interests.
- K.S.A. § 23-2402 · Kansas defines a premarital agreement as one between prospective spouses made in contemplation of marriage and effective upon marriage, and defines property to include present, future, legal, equitable, vested, contingent, real, personal, income, and earnings interests.
- In re Marriage of Nelson, 58 Kan. App. 2d 920, 475 P.3d 1284 (2020) · Nelson applies whole-document construction to an unambiguous premarital agreement and held that unambiguous joint-tenancy deeds controlled without parol evidence used to impeach their written terms.
- Chenault v. Chenault, 799 S.W.2d 575 (Ky. 1990) · Kentucky construes the actual trigger and operative language; Chenault treated its agreement as directed to death rather than divorce, so labels and general recitals cannot replace close textual analysis.
- Gentry v. Gentry, 798 S.W.2d 928 (Ky. 1990); Ky. Rev. Stat. § 403.190(2)(d) · Parties may define rights in property they own at marriage or later acquire, and Gentry enforced the exact ownership allocation including jointly titled property rather than substituting a generic separate-property result.
- Lawson v. Loid, 896 S.W.2d 1 (Ky. 1995) · Kentucky has long recognized premarital agreements intended to operate at death, but the scope of any dower, elective, or estate-right release and the disclosure record must be proved.
- Crow v. Crow, 56,445-CA (La. App. 2 Cir. Nov. 19, 2025) · Crow affirmed enforcement after finding insufficient proof of error and explained that joint tax filing or acquiring property during marriage did not automatically convert the agreed separate-property regime.
- La. Civ. Code art. 2332 · A matrimonial agreement affects third persons as to immovables when filed in the conveyance records where the property is situated and as to movables when filed where the spouses are domiciled.
- DeMatteo v. DeMatteo, 436 Mass. 18, 762 N.E.2d 797 (2002) · An enforceable agreement remains a contract whose language, definitions, schedules, triggers, and integrated obligations must be construed.
- Matter of the Estate of Stacy, 96 Mass. App. Ct. 447, 136 N.E.3d 486 (2019) · Stacy enforced plain premarital language waiving claims to identified separate property at death and excluded it from the surviving spouse's intestate-share calculation.
- Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 209, § 26 · A clearly descriptive property schedule must be annexed, and the contract and schedule recorded before marriage or within ninety days afterward in the specified registry and where affected land lies.
- Cannon v. Cannon, 384 Md. 537, 865 A.2d 563 (2005); Herget v. Herget, 319 Md. 466, 573 A.2d 798 (1990) · Antenuptial agreements are contracts interpreted under Maryland's objective law of contract interpretation, with attention to the executed language, consideration, and objective intent.
- Md. Code, Fam. Law § 8-201(c)–(e) · Current definitions exclude property from family-home, family-use, or marital-property treatment when a valid agreement applies, subject to the exact subsection and asset.
- Md. Code, Est. & Trusts § 3-205 · A surviving spouse's election rights may be waived before or after marriage by a written contract, agreement, or waiver signed by the waiving party, with statutory consequences for broad all-rights language.
50-state follow-through
Open the underlying issue matrices.
Specialized facts often cross several ordinary legal topics. Compare each one separately instead of expecting a single clause label to answer everything.
Matrix and list placement describes the records in PrenupsAI's current evidence packages. It does not rank legal strictness, predict enforceability, or mean that an unlisted state has no applicable rule. Open the cited sources to inspect the underlying authority.