A marriage contract (often called a prenuptial agreement) or a cohabitation agreement is how couples decide property and support before a dispute. Ontario will generally honour a well-made domestic contract — and will set aside a sloppy one.
Well-made means full financial disclosure, independent legal advice on both sides, and terms the Family Law Act actually allows. We draft them and we review them.
What these agreements can do
They can set how property is divided, how the home is treated, and whether spousal support will be paid — or waived — if the relationship ends. They cannot bargain away a child's right to support.
What makes one hold
Disclosure schedules attached. Independent legal advice certificates on both sides. Time to read, not a signing the night before the wedding. Those three habits are why our agreements survive scrutiny.
Common-law couples
Ontario common-law partners do not automatically equalize property. A cohabitation agreement is often more important for them than a marriage contract is for a married couple — it creates the rules the statute does not.
Reviewing a contract you have been asked to sign
Independent legal advice on someone else's draft is a defined, flat-quoted task. Bring the draft and the disclosure. You leave with a certificate — or with a list of changes we will not certify around.