In New Jersey, what’s the difference between a “prenuptial agreement” and a “postnuptial agreement” in terms of which statute governs their enforceability?

In New Jersey, prenuptial (premarital) agreements are governed by a specific statute — the New Jersey Uniform Premarital and Pre-Civil Union Agreement Act, N.J.S.A. 37:2-38 et seq. (enacted 1988). This law sets out defined requirements for enforceability, including that the agreement must be in writing, signed, and that each party must have had (or knowingly waived) full financial disclosure — and it can be challenged as unconscionable under the statute’s specific standards.

Postnuptial agreements, by contrast, have no dedicated New Jersey statute. They’re enforced under general contract law principles and case law — most notably Steele v. Steele, which held that postnuptial (or “mid-marital”) agreements get a heightened level of scrutiny compared to prenups. The reasoning: spouses already married don’t have the same leverage or walk-away option that engaged couples do before the wedding, so courts look more closely at fairness, disclosure, and voluntariness at the time of signing — and again at the time of enforcement.

That’s actually the wrinkle in the Fioravante case we just recapped hinged on exactly this kind of scrutiny — the court had to be satisfied the PNA wasn’t the product of coercion before it could enforce the fee-shifting terms inside it.