In most states, yes — couples can waive or limit alimony in a prenuptial agreement, and among Trusted Prenup couples who address support, a slight majority waive it entirely. But this is the single most heavily policed clause in prenup law, and a few states won't enforce it at all. Here's the honest map.
Most states allow a prenup to waive, limit, or customize spousal support — provided the agreement was signed voluntarily, with full financial disclosure, and isn't grossly unfair when it's enforced.
Spousal support (also called alimony or maintenance) is the payment one ex-spouse makes to the other after a divorce, and it's one of the most consequential things a prenup can address. Under the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act — the framework most states follow — couples may 'modify or eliminate' spousal support by agreement. That's the rule in the majority of the country.
But no clause gets more judicial scrutiny. Property divisions in a prenup are usually taken at face value; support waivers get a second look, and in many states a third. The conditions that matter everywhere: both partners signed voluntarily and well before the wedding, both made honest financial disclosure, and the result isn't unconscionable — a legal word that roughly means 'shocking to the court's conscience.' Some states test unconscionability at signing; the stricter ones test it again at enforcement, years later, against the facts of the marriage as it actually unfolded.
A waiver means that if you divorce, neither spouse can ask the court for ongoing support payments — each of you leaves with your property and your own earning power.
Without a prenup, a divorce court decides support using your state's laws — increasingly, fixed formulas driven by the income gap and the length of the marriage. Those formulas apply to you automatically, and they can change after you're married. A waiver replaces that machinery with a simple mutual promise: neither of us will seek support from the other.
Why do so many couples choose this? In our questionnaire data, spousal support is one of the most-cited topics couples want addressed — over a thousand of 2,840 couples raise it — and among those who address it, 53% waive it entirely. The common thread is two-income couples who want a clean break: each partner keeps their earnings, their trajectory, and their independence, whatever happens. For many, the waiver isn't about protecting the richer partner; it's a statement that neither person is marrying for a payout.
The rest write something in between — which the next sections cover, because a full waiver is not the only tool and not always the right one, especially if one of you plans to step back from a career to raise children.
Among couples who address spousal support in their Trusted Prenup, 53% waive it entirely. The other 47% write their own formula — which is exactly the point: it's your call, not a stranger's.
— Trusted Prenup Editorial Team
Courts strike support waivers that were signed under pressure, without disclosure, or that would leave an ex-spouse destitute or on public assistance.
The classic failure cases are procedural: an agreement produced days before the wedding, a partner who never saw the other's finances, no realistic chance to consult a lawyer. Any of those can sink a support waiver even in waiver-friendly states — which is why the boring mechanics (early signing, full disclosure, time to review) are the substance, not the paperwork.
The second failure mode is outcome-based. Many states keep a statutory safety valve: if enforcing the waiver would leave a spouse eligible for public assistance, the court can order support anyway, waiver or not. And states that test unconscionability at enforcement will look at the marriage as it actually went — a twenty-year marriage where one spouse left the workforce looks very different at the end than it did at the altar. A well-drafted agreement anticipates that scrutiny instead of pretending it away.
Iowa, New Mexico, and South Dakota generally won't enforce spousal-support waivers, and California requires the waiving spouse to have had independent counsel.
Most states follow the majority rule, but the exceptions are absolute, and no clause language gets around them. Iowa and New Mexico bar premarital agreements from adversely affecting spousal support by statute. South Dakota's supreme court has held alimony waivers in prenups contrary to public policy. If your divorce were governed by one of those states' laws, a waiver would very likely be ignored — the rest of the agreement can still stand, but the support question goes back to the court.
California allows waivers but attaches the strictest procedure in the country: under Family Code § 1612(c), a spousal support limitation is unenforceable unless the party giving up support was represented by their own independent lawyer when the agreement was signed — and it still can't be unconscionable at the time of enforcement. Our California prenup guide covers the full picture, including the state's seven-day review rule.
This is also why where you live — and where you might move — matters. A support waiver valid in your state today may be tested under another state's law years from now. See does a prenup work if you move states for how choice-of-law clauses handle that, and check your state's guide for its specific support rules.
Couples who don't want a total waiver use lump-sum buyouts, support scaled to the length of the marriage, caps, or sunset clauses — all of which a prenup can define.
A prenup's support clause is a dial, not a switch. Common middle positions: a lump-sum payment instead of ongoing support (one check, clean break); a formula that grows with the marriage (for example, a set amount per year married); a cap on the amount or duration a court could order; or a sunset clause under which the waiver itself expires after a milestone — say, ten years or the birth of a child — and the state's default rules come back.
These aren't loopholes; they're the honest way to handle a future you can't fully predict. A couple planning for one partner to pause a career often decides a full waiver would be unfair to that partner — and writes a formula both consider reasonable instead. That is exactly the conversation a prenup is supposed to force while you're still on the same side of the table. If you're unsure how to start it, our guide on how to talk to your partner about a prenup has scripts for it.
One boundary applies everywhere: child support can never be waived in a prenup. Support for children belongs to the children, and courts set it at divorce regardless of what parents agreed before the wedding.
The questionnaire asks both partners how to handle support — waive, customize, or keep the state default — and builds a state-compliant clause from your answer.
When you build a Trusted Prenup, spousal support is its own step, answered by both partners — not buried in boilerplate. You can waive support mutually, define your own terms, or leave the state's default in place; the agreement is then assembled to match your state's requirements, including the states where waivers need special handling.
Because this is the most legally sensitive clause a prenup can carry, it's also where the optional attorney review add-on earns its keep: where available, an attorney licensed in your state reviews the finished agreement with you on a call. The core agreement is a flat $599; attorney review can be added at checkout or later.
Waive it, customize it, or keep your state's default: build a prenup that says what you both chose, for a flat $599.
Start Your Prenup →In most states, yes — a prenup can waive spousal support entirely if it was signed voluntarily, with full financial disclosure, and isn't unconscionable. A few states (including Iowa, New Mexico, and South Dakota) generally won't enforce such waivers, and California requires the waiving spouse to have had their own lawyer.
The usual killers: signing close to the wedding under pressure, missing or dishonest financial disclosure, no opportunity to consult a lawyer, or a result so one-sided a court finds it unconscionable — in some states judged at enforcement, not signing. Statutory bars in a few states apply regardless of procedure.
No. Child support belongs to the child, not the parents, and no state lets a prenup waive or cap it. Courts set child support at divorce under state guidelines regardless of any premarital agreement.
In California, the spouse giving up support must have had independent counsel for the waiver to be enforceable. Most other states don't strictly require it, but separate review strengthens any support clause — it's the single best answer to a later claim of pressure or misunderstanding.
Among Trusted Prenup couples who address spousal support, 53% waive it entirely and the rest set custom terms — lump sums, formulas tied to the length of the marriage, caps, or sunset clauses. There's no default answer; the point of the agreement is that you choose.
Your agreement's choice-of-law clause asks courts to apply the law of the state where you signed, and courts usually respect it — but a state with a strong public policy against support waivers may apply its own rule anyway. See our guide on moving states with a prenup.
Trusted Prenup is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. This page is general information about prenuptial agreements and pricing and is not a substitute for advice from a licensed attorney about your situation.