Marriage Contracts in Ontario: 5 Tips for an Effective 'Prenup.'
Protect your assets without killing the romance. Learn how a Marriage Contract can secure your business, your inheritance, and your pre‑marriage home.
Draft Your Marriage Contract
Protect your assets without killing the romance. Learn how a Marriage Contract can secure your business, your inheritance, and your pre‑marriage home.
Draft Your Marriage ContractLegal Review: This contract guide was reviewed by Deepa Tailor, Senior Family Lawyer, to ensure compliance with Section 52 of the Family Law Act regarding domestic contracts.
A Marriage Contract (often called a Prenup) allows couples to 'opt-out' of the standard property division rules in Ontario. It is primarily used to protect pre‑marriage assets, business interests, and inheritances from being shared upon divorce. However, a Marriage Contract CANNOT determine Child Custody or Child Support rights, and it CANNOT limit a spouse's right to live in the Matrimonial Home.
If you bring a home into the marriage and it becomes the family home, you lose your deduction credit unless you have a contract.
Without a contract, the increase in your business’s value during marriage is shared. A contract keeps it separate.
Set out how student loans or credit card debt from before the marriage will be treated between you (Family Law Act, s. 52(1)).
The Matrimonial Home is treated differently than all other assets in Ontario. Normally, if you owned property before the marriage, you get a "deduction" for its value on the date of marriage when calculating Net Family Property. BUT, if that specific house becomes the family home, the deduction is lost, and its full value counts in your net family property when the equalization payment is calculated (Family Law Act, s. 4(1)). This is a unique rule under Part IV of the Family Law Act that catches many homeowners off guard.
A Marriage Contract is the only way to fix this. You can write a clause stating: "If we divorce, I get the down payment back first," or "The house remains excluded property." Without this contract, the default rule under the Family Law Act applies automatically, and your pre‑marriage equity is shared.
You must list everything (assets, debts, income). If a party fails to disclose significant assets or debts, a court can set the contract aside (Family Law Act, s. 56(4)(a)).
Each of you should get advice from your own lawyer. The Act does not require it, but a court can set aside a contract if a party did not understand its nature or consequences (Family Law Act, s. 56(4)(b)).
Do not sign it the day before the wedding. Courts view this as pressure. Sign it months in advance.
While it doesn’t have to be 50/50, it cannot be “unconscionable” (grossly unfair).
Yes. It is called a “Post-Nuptial Agreement,” but it follows the exact same legal rules as a pre-nuptial agreement.
Senior Family Lawyer
Deepa Tailor drafts durable marriage contracts that protect pre‑acquired assets and business interests, ensuring her clients enter marriage with financial peace of mind.
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Draft Your Marriage Contract