A prenuptial agreement is not a sign you expect the marriage to fail; it is a written understanding of what each of you owns and owes walking in. In El Paso we draft prenups for people who already own a home on the Westside or in the Upper Valley, run a family business, expect an inheritance, carry student loans, have children from a prior marriage they want to provide for, or simply want to decide these questions calmly now instead of in a courtroom later. Couples where one partner lives or holds property in Ciudad Juárez have extra reasons to define what stays separate.
Texas adopted the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act in Texas Family Code Chapter 4, Subchapter A (sections 4.001 through 4.010). A premarital agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties, and it becomes effective on marriage. It may address property rights, management of assets, what happens on divorce or death, spousal maintenance, and choice of law, but it may not adversely affect a child's right to support. Under section 4.006, a prenup is enforceable unless the challenging spouse proves it was not signed voluntarily or that it was unconscionable when signed and made without fair disclosure of the other spouse's property and debts. Without a prenup, Texas community property rules in Chapter 3 decide everything.
Robert Navar represents one party, interviews you about your goals, prepares a full disclosure schedule of assets and debts, drafts the agreement in plain English with a Spanish courtesy translation when helpful, and coordinates signatures before a notary well ahead of the wedding. Nothing is filed in court; the signed original simply stays in your files until it is needed. We strongly encourage your future spouse to have independent counsel review the draft, because that step is the best defense against a later claim of involuntariness. Generic online templates routinely fail the Texas disclosure and voluntariness tests, which is precisely when a prenup matters most.
What a Texas prenup can and cannot do
A well-drafted El Paso prenup can confirm that a house, business, retirement account or inheritance stays separate property, decide whether income earned during the marriage will be community or separate, allocate responsibility for premarital debts, waive or limit spousal maintenance, and set what each spouse receives if the other dies. It can also require that a business interest never be divided, which matters to family enterprises along the border. It cannot decide child custody or child support, cannot require anything illegal, and cannot be so one-sided at signing, without disclosure, that a judge would call it unconscionable.
Common mistakes that make prenups unenforceable
The three problems we see most often are signing days before the wedding, hiding or guessing at asset values, and using one lawyer for both parties. A prenup signed at the rehearsal dinner invites a voluntariness challenge. A disclosure schedule that omits a retirement account or a Juárez property gives the other spouse a fair-disclosure argument. And a spouse who never had the chance to consult a lawyer of their own can claim they did not understand what they gave up. We build the timeline, disclosure and independent-review steps into every El Paso prenup so the document holds up when it counts.
What's included
- Planning consultation on your assets, debts, business interests and goals for the agreement
- Financial disclosure schedules for both parties, prepared to satisfy Family Code section 4.006
- Custom premarital agreement drafted in plain English, with a Spanish courtesy translation on request
- One round of revisions after your future spouse or their attorney reviews the draft
- Signing coordination before a notary, including acknowledgments and independent-counsel certificates
- Executed originals for each party and guidance on keeping separate property records after the wedding
How it works
Goals and disclosure
We meet at our El Paso office or by video to learn what each of you owns, owes and wants protected, then build the disclosure schedules that Texas law requires before anyone signs.
Draft and independent review
We draft the agreement and send it to your future spouse, who is encouraged to have their own attorney review it. We work through comments and revise once so both of you are comfortable with every clause.
Sign well before the wedding
Both parties sign before a notary, ideally 30 or more days before the ceremony. No court filing is needed. Each of you keeps an original, and the agreement takes effect the moment you are married.