Prenuptial Agreement Builder

Let’s get started.

Use full legal names, exactly as they appear on government ID. In the contract you’ll be called Partner One and Partner Two. This builder is for Ontario — the contract is a marriage contract under Ontario’s Family Law Act.

Your full legal name (Partner One)

Your city or town in Ontario

Your future spouse’s full legal name (Partner Two)

Their city or town in Ontario

What is your home address in Ontario?

Ontario law, in plain words. A marriage contract must be in writing, signed by both partners, and witnessed — otherwise a court may refuse to enforce it. And it must be signed before the wedding: sign after the ceremony and you have a different kind of contract, with different rules. This builder prepares the written draft; the signing and witness steps are built into its last pages.

You, and the wedding.

These statements open the contract. They record the facts the two of you are relying on — courts read them, so they must be true.

Do the two of you live together now?

YesWe live together now.

Not yetWe’ll start living together later.

We live apart for nowWork, family or other reasons have us in different places at the moment.

When did you start living together?

When is the wedding? (if the date is set)

We’re not sure of the exact date we started living togetherThe draft will say “on or about” the date you picked.

Our wedding date is not fixed yetThe contract will record that the wedding is planned, without naming a date.

Sign before the wedding — and not the night before. This contract only works as a prenuptial agreement if it is signed before you marry. Leave yourselves real time: a signature squeezed in under last-minute pressure is exactly what a court looks at when a contract is challenged later.

We have each told the other, honestly and completely, what we own and what we oweThe full disclosure schedules come in Step 6 — this confirms the two of you are hiding nothing from each other.

We are each signing freely, with no pressure from the otherNo threats, no rushing, no pressure — either of you can pause or walk away at any time before signing.

Anything else about your situation the contract should mention? (optional)

Why a contract at all? Without one, Ontario’s Family Law Act sets the default rules: if a marriage ends, the growth in what each spouse owns during the marriage is usually shared through a payment called equalization, and the home the couple lives in receives special protection. A marriage contract lets the two of you choose different rules for yourselves — within limits this builder flags as you go.

Children and pets.

A short step — the contract can record who the children in your lives are, but it cannot make decisions for them. Please read the warnings below; they matter.

Do you or your future spouse have any dependent children?

YesAt least one dependent child — ours together, or from an earlier relationship.

NoNeither of us has dependent children.

How do children fit into your household?

No childrenNeither of us has children.

Children togetherWe have a child or children together.

Children from earlier relationshipsOne or both of us has children from before.

BothChildren together and from earlier relationships.

Children’s names and years of birth (optional — for identification only)

Anything about the children’s education or upbringing you both want recorded? (optional)

What you CAN record: schooling and upbringing wishes. Ontario law allows a marriage contract to record your wishes about a child’s education and moral training — a faith tradition, a language, a cultural upbringing the two of you want respected. That is all the box above can do.

What this contract CANNOT do. A marriage contract cannot decide parenting arrangements — decision-making responsibility and parenting time are always decided by a child’s best interests, and a court is not bound by anything written here. Child support follows the Child Support Guidelines and cannot be signed away in a contract like this one, because support belongs to the child. If either of you has children, legal advice before signing matters even more — the draft repeats this warning so nobody misses it.

Pets

Do the two of you have any pets?

YesAt least one pet is part of the household.

NoWe don’t have pets.

Your property — what each of you owns.

First the rules, then your lists. The lists you build here print in the contract, so the two of you can point to exactly what is whose.

Do the two of you own anything together already?

YesWe own at least one thing together.

NoEverything is in one name or the other.

If the marriage ends, how should property be treated?

Each of us keeps our own propertyWhat each of us owns stays ours, with no sharing payment for property. (In legal terms, you are choosing not to use Ontario’s equalization system.)

Follow Ontario lawOntario’s default equalization rules apply to our property, much as if we had no contract.

Our own arrangementDescribe it in the box below, in your own words.

Property one of you owns before the wedding can grow in value during the marriage. Who does that growth belong to?

Growth stays with the ownerIncreases in value on property one of us owns belong to that partner alone.

Growth during the marriage is sharedThe increase in value between the wedding and a separation is shared between us.

The home you will live in as a married couple — your matrimonial home

If one of us owns it, it stays that owner’sOwnership of the home, and how its value is treated, stay with the partner whose name is on it.

Give it Ontario’s usual treatmentLeave the home’s ownership and value to Ontario’s default rules.

One thing no contract can do. Ontario law protects each spouse’s right to live in the matrimonial home. A marriage contract can settle who owns the home and how its value is counted — but a term that tries to take away a spouse’s right to possess the home is not enforceable. This builder deals with ownership and value only, never with forcing a spouse out.

If one partner’s separate money gets mixed with shared money — for example, separate savings paid into a joint account

Mixed money becomes sharedOnce separate money is mixed in, it is treated as shared.

It stays separate while it can be tracedMixed money keeps its separate character as long as records show where it came from.

Gifts between us still countA genuine gift from one partner to the other is a completed transfer — this contract does not undo it.

List specific assets

Add a row for each asset that matters, or leave the lists empty and let the rules above do the work. Think broadly: bank accounts, vehicles, land, business interests, pensions and retirement accounts all count as assets.

Partner One’s separate assets — things Partner One owns and keeps separate

Partner Two’s separate assets — things Partner Two owns and keeps separate

Your debts.

Debts matter as much as property. First the rules, then your lists — they print in the contract. Listing a debt here does not change who a lender can collect from; it records what the two of you agreed between yourselves.

Debts you take on together

Debts in both names are sharedAny debt you both sign for, or hold jointly, is owed by both of you.

No shared debtsEvery debt belongs only to the partner whose name is on it.

Debts each of you has alone

Each of us keeps our own debtsA debt in one name only stays that partner’s responsibility — from before and during the marriage.

Separate unless we agreed in writingA solo debt stays separate unless there is written proof both partners agreed to share that particular debt.

Do the two of you share any debt right now?

YesAt least one debt is in both names, or we both signed for it.

NoAll of our debts are in one name only.

List specific debts

Add a row for each debt that belongs to one partner alone, or leave the lists empty and let the rules above do the work.

Partner One’s separate debts — debts only Partner One is responsible for

Partner Two’s separate debts — debts only Partner Two is responsible for

Full financial disclosure.

This step is the backbone of the whole contract. Before signing, each of you lays out — honestly and in reasonable detail — what you earn, what you own and what you owe. These pages print as disclosure schedules at the back of the contract, above each partner’s confirmation.

Why this step decides whether the contract holds. Under Ontario’s Family Law Act, a court may set aside a marriage contract if a partner failed to disclose significant assets or debts when it was signed. Incomplete disclosure is the most common reason contracts like this one fail. Be complete — when in doubt, write it down. Approximate values are fine; silence is not.

Partner One’s disclosure

Everything in this block is about Partner One only.

Income — where it comes from, and about how much per year

Assets, and roughly what each is worth

Debts, and roughly how much is owed on each

Partner One confirms: this is a full and honest picture of my income, property and debts as of todayIf anything significant changes before the wedding, I will update it in writing before we sign.

Partner Two’s disclosure

Everything in this block is about Partner Two only.

Income — where it comes from, and about how much per year

Assets, and roughly what each is worth

Debts, and roughly how much is owed on each

Partner Two confirms: this is a full and honest picture of my income, property and debts as of todayIf anything significant changes before the wedding, I will update it in writing before we sign.

Support — and signing safely.

Support is money one spouse may owe the other after a marriage ends. Ontario law can give a spouse the right to claim it — this section records what the two of you choose, plus the steps that protect the contract.

If the marriage ends, will either partner pay support to the other?

No — neither of us paysWe release each other from spousal support claims, now and in the future (the release wording goes in the draft).

Leave it to the lawThe contract does not deal with spousal support — our rights stay whatever Ontario law gives us.

Yes — set an amount and a time periodFill in who pays, how much per month, and for how long, below.

Why this choice deserves care. Spouses can owe each other support based on need, the length of the marriage, and the roles each took on during it. Giving up support is a serious step. A court can still review a support release — for example, where disclosure was incomplete, where the spouse did not understand what they were signing, or where the result would be unconscionable (grossly unfair). Independent legal advice for each of you is the release’s best protection.

If one of you dies

What should the surviving spouse receive from the other’s estate? Whatever you choose, this contract does not replace a will — and in Ontario, getting married no longer cancels a will made earlier, so a pre-wedding will may badly need updating once you are married.

Only what’s in the WillThe survivor receives only what the deceased spouse’s valid will leaves them.

As determined by lawLeave it to Ontario law — the will, or the intestacy rules if there is no will — as it stands when one of us dies.

The Will, plus additional itemsThe will governs, plus the extra items or rights you describe below.

Anything else?

Do you want to add anything else to the contract? Couples sometimes add things like how household contents get divided, how big purchases get decided together, or what happens with the home or a lease during a separation. Anything you type prints in the draft as extra terms, in your own words.

Yes — add our own termsThey print in the draft just before the standard closing sections.

NoThe sections we’ve covered are enough.

If you ever disagree

If you ever disagree about this contract, how should you try to solve it first?

Talk it out firstWe will try to settle disagreements by discussing them honestly between ourselves before either of us does anything else.

MediationWe will sit down with a mediator we both agree on before either of us starts a court case about this contract.

No special processLeave any disagreement to the courts, the way the law allows.

Signing day

For an Ontario marriage contract to be enforceable, it must be in writing, both partners must sign, and each signature must be witnessed. Who will be there when you sign?

Our own lawyers — recommendedEach partner signs with their own lawyer, who completes the legal-advice certificate pages at the back of the draft.

Lawyers and witnessesCertificates from each lawyer, plus witnesses at the signing.

Witnesses onlyNo lawyers at the signing, and no certificate pages. The draft will still urge you to get advice first.

How many witnesses will watch each partner sign?

One witnessThe legal minimum — one witness per signature.

Two witnessesExtra belt-and-suspenders; two witness lines per signature.

Signing readiness

Tick what is true. Anything unticked becomes a reminder on your draft — it does not change your answers.

We have each completed the disclosure schedules in Step 6, honestly and completelyKeep copies of what you exchanged — courts look for real disclosure.

We have each read the draft and understand what it meansIf any part is unclear, ask before signing — not after.

Each of us will get advice from our OWN lawyer before signingOne lawyer cannot advise you both. The draft includes a certificate page for each lawyer to complete.

Neither of us is being pressured, rushed or threatened into signingPressure is a classic reason courts throw contracts out.

We will sign BEFORE the wedding day — not afterSigned after the ceremony, it is no longer a prenuptial agreement.

We will sign in front of a witness, who will also signOntario’s Family Law Act requires witnessed signatures.

We will each keep a signed copy, with the certificates, schedules and any attached listsStore them somewhere safe.

Strongest protection: each of you takes the unsigned draft to your own Ontario family lawyer, gets advice, and has that lawyer complete the certificate page at the back of the draft. It costs far less than arguing about the contract later.

Your draft is ready.

Read every word before signing. Remember: both of you sign in front of a witness, before the wedding, and each partner’s own lawyer should complete the certificate pages at the back.

Partner One—

Partner Two—

Wedding—

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