Prenup Lawyers in Austin

Our Prenup Process in Austin

Most couples come to this for the first time, often with a mix of clarity and uncertainty. Here’s what to expect with GBA.

Step 1 – Initial consultation: Sit down with a board-certified Austin family law attorney to talk through your circumstances, priorities, and any concerns you may be carrying. This is a focused working session with tailored legal analysis, which is why it’s a paid meeting rather than a general intake call.

For couples who’d rather work through the process together, we also offer a Collaborative prenup approach.

Step 2 – Financial disclosure: Both partners provide a full picture of assets, debts, and income. This is a legal requirement for the agreement to be enforceable – our attorneys guide you through what’s needed and how to document it correctly.

Step 3 – Drafting: We draft the agreement around what matters most in your circumstances: property division, business protections, debt allocation, spousal maintenance, and any other relevant provisions.

Step 4 – Independent review: Each partner’s attorney reviews the draft. Although Texas doesn’t strictly require separate counsel, this meaningfully strengthens enforceability if the agreement is ever challenged.

Step 5 – Revisions and signing: Work through any changes, finalize terms, and sign well before the wedding. Aim to begin at least two to three months in advance. Under Texas Family Code § 4.006, a prenup can be voided if signed under duress. Presenting an agreement close to the ceremony – when plans are set and commitments made – can create exactly the kind of pressure that raises concerns later.

If you’re already married and wishing you’d addressed this earlier, we can help you to achieve similar outcomes through postnuptial partition and exchange agreements under Texas law.

How Pricing Works at GBA 

GBA bills hourly, with rates ranging from $250/hour for a newer associate to over $700/hour for a senior partner. Clients pay an upfront retainer – typically starting at $5,000, with higher amounts for more complex matters – which is drawn down as work is completed. Any unused balance is returned at the close of the engagement, reflecting what we call the three Rs: Retainer, Replenishment, and Refund.

What shapes the total is often less about a single decision and more about the context you’re navigating. The complexity of your finances plays a significant role, as a couple with straightforward pre-marital savings will face a very different process than one working through business valuations, multiple properties, equity compensation, or children from a prior relationship. The number of revision rounds and whether both partners retain separate counsel can also influence the overall cost.

Why Choose Goranson Bain Ausley for Your Prenup

Choosing a prenup attorney is a personal and weighty decision. To navigate it, you need the support of board-certified specialists with deep, hands-on experience. Here’s what that looks like at GBA.

Austin legacy and depth: GBA’s Austin office was built by attorneys whose names remain on the door: Tom Ausley, Kelly Ausley-Flores, Kris Algert, and Eric Robertson. That foundation now supports 12 named attorneys serving clients across Austin, West Lake Hills, Rollingwood, Cedar Park, and Travis County. It’s a firm with genuine roots in this community, not a satellite office staffed from elsewhere.

Board Certified in Family Law — Texas Board of Legal Specialization: Fewer than 1% of Texas lawyers hold Board Certification in Family Law from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization — one of the most rigorous peer-reviewed credentials in the state. The GBA Austin team includes 8 Board Certified Family Law specialists, among them several GBA Austin attorneys have maintained that certification for decades – including Kristen Algert (certified 1997, AAML Fellow since 2017), Eric Robertson (certified 1997, AAML Fellow since 2007), and P. Lindley Bain (certified 2012, AAML Fellow since 2020). That level of specialist experience is rare, especially within a single office.

Award-winning expertise: GBA’s collaborative law depth is equally notable: Kristen “Kris” Algert, Eric Robertson, Kelly Caperton Fischer, and Kelly Ausley-Flores have each been recognized by Best Lawyers as Austin’s “Lawyer of the Year” for Collaborative Law: Family Law, alongside founding partner Tom Ausley. Kris Algert also holds the prestigious Master Credential in Collaborative Divorce – a distinction held by only a select few attorneys statewide.

Appellate-informed drafting: GBA includes two attorneys with dual board certification in both family law and civil appellate law – a distinction shared by just three practitioners in Texas. When an attorney understands how appellate courts scrutinize prenuptial agreements, they draft with that lens in mind – anticipating challenges and addressing them before the document is signed.

Built for Austin’s financial complexity: Austin’s economy often brings financial situations that make prenups more nuanced: tech equity, founder ownership, premarital investment property, deferred compensation, and blended family considerations. Our Austin practice regularly supports professionals and entrepreneurs navigating this terrain, with a dedicated Divorce for Business Owners practice and experience structuring prenup provisions around business continuity, income distribution, intellectual property, valuations, and buyout mechanisms. Attorney Angel Berbarie has written in detail about how prenups and postnups can protect business owners across these areas.

How a Prenuptial Agreement Protects Your Assets in Texas

Texas Community Property: the Default Rules

Texas is one of nine community property states. By default, anything acquired during a marriage is presumed to belong equally to both spouses – and in a divorce, that presumption guides how assets are divided. Although it’s possible to claim certain assets as separate property, you need clear and convincing evidence.

A further complication often arises with income generated from separate property during the marriage. Rental income, stock dividends, business earnings – without a prenuptial agreement, these are typically treated as community property, even if the underlying asset was yours beforehand. 

This means income from a retirement account owned before marriage becomes community property unless a marital agreement states otherwise. For Austin professionals, this can include revenue from a pre-existing business, RSUs vesting during the marriage, or income from an investment property purchased years earlier.

What a Prenup Can (and Cannot) Include

Under Texas Family Code § 4.003, a prenuptial agreement can address a wide range of financial matters:

• Property rights and division rules – defining what stays separate and how community property would be divided.
• Debt allocation – particularly relevant when one partner carries significant student loan or business debt into the marriage.
• Spousal maintenance – modifying or waiving it entirely, subject to certain limits.
• Business ownership protections – continuity, income distribution, intellectual property, valuations, buyout mechanisms, and non-compete clauses. 
• Life insurance beneficiary designations
• Inheritance and estate planning provisions – especially valuable for blended families. As GBA attorney Jonathan James highlights, a premarital agreement can protect assets for children from a prior relationship “not just in the case of divorce but also if a spouse dies during the marriage”.

There are also clear boundaries. A prenup cannot determine child custody or child support, include terms that incentivize divorce, or contain anything that conflicts with public policy. Texas courts decide custody and support at the time of divorce based on the child’s best interests – a prenuptial agreement does not factor into that analysis. 

Enforceability Requirements

Under Texas Family Code § 4.006, a prenup is unenforceable if a party can show they didn’t sign voluntarily, or that the agreement was unconscionable and they weren’t given fair financial disclosure beforehand, and hadn’t waived that disclosure in writing or already had sufficient knowledge of the other party’s finances.

Talk to a Prenup Lawyer in Austin

A prenuptial agreement brings clarity to one of life’s most important transitions. From the day you marry, Texas community property rules apply automatically – so what you’re bringing into the relationship, whether a business, equity compensation, real estate, or children from a prior relationship, deserves careful consideration.

GBA’s Austin attorneys combine board certification, collaborative training, and extensive drafting experience to create agreements that stand up when it matters. It’s why Texas Lawyer named GBA the #1 Family Law Firm in Austin (2025).

Schedule your consultation with one of our Austin-based lawyers.