How much does a prenup cost?
Family law bills at $344 an hour on average in the United States, according to Clio, covering 2025 and updated in March 2026. A prenuptial agreement costs that rate multiplied by the hours it takes, and the hours depend on how complicated your finances are and how much negotiating the two of you do. Both parties normally need their own lawyer for the agreement to hold up, so budget for two sets of fees rather than one.
$344
average hourly rate, family law
$183
average non-lawyer hourly rate, family law
$295
blended firm rate, family law
The 3 figures above, drawn to one scale so the distance between them is visible rather than only stated. Each bar spans its own range, and the amount beside it is the one printed above.
Cost breakdown
Each table below comes from one source, named underneath it, with the date that source last revised the figures. Everything is a United States figure in USD.
What a family lawyer charges by the hour, the field a prenup is written in
| Practice area | Lawyer | Non-lawyer | Firm blended |
|---|---|---|---|
| Family | $344 | $183 | $295 |
| Trusts | $397 | $203 | $333 |
| Wills & Estates | $371 | $194 | $316 |
| Mediation / Arbitration | $371 | $216 | $348 |
| National average, all areas | $349 | $187 | $311 |
A bar for each row of the table above, 5 of them, drawn to the same scale so the spread is visible at a glance. The figure beside each bar is the one the table prints.
What changes the price
- Two lawyers, not one
- Independent legal advice for each party is what makes an agreement stand up later. One lawyer drafts and the other reviews, and the drafting side is usually the larger bill.
- How complicated the finances are
- Two salaries and a car is a short document. A business, property in several states, a trust or children from a previous relationship each add drafting and negotiation.
- How much you disagree
- The hours go into negotiation. A couple who have already agreed the substance pays for a fraction of the time a couple still arguing does.
- Timing
- An agreement signed close to the wedding invites a later argument about pressure. Starting months out is both safer legally and cheaper, because nothing has to be rushed.
- Where you are
- Clio publishes state-level rates alongside practice-area ones, and the state spread is wide enough to dominate the comparison.
How to pay less
- Agree the terms between yourselves first
- Turn up with the substance settled and you are paying for drafting rather than mediation.
- Bring your financial disclosure ready
- Full disclosure is a requirement in most states anyway. Having it assembled before the first meeting removes hours of chasing.
- Ask for a flat fee
- Plenty of family firms will quote a fixed price for a straightforward agreement once they have seen the disclosure.
- Ask what the review side costs
- The reviewing lawyer is normally the cheaper of the two. If one of you has the simpler position, that allocation is worth discussing.
Questions
Do both people need their own lawyer for a prenup?
It is not universally required, but independent advice on both sides is the single strongest protection against the agreement being set aside later. Skipping it to save a fee is the false economy in this whole area.
Can we write a prenup ourselves?
Online templates exist and are cheap. What they cannot do is meet your state’s formalities with confidence or survive a determined challenge, which is the only moment the document ever matters.
When should we start?
Months before the wedding. An agreement signed days beforehand is the classic fact pattern for a later claim of duress.
Is a prenup worth it if we do not have much?
It is most often used to protect a business, an inheritance, pre-marital property or one partner from the other’s debts. If none of those apply, the case for the expense is weaker.
Where these figures come from
We have not published a total price for a prenuptial agreement. The figures circulating for that number vary by an order of magnitude and we could not trace any of them to a source that states its method. What is sourced here is the hourly rate, which is the honest building block: ask each lawyer for their rate and their estimated hours, and you have your own figure.
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How Much Should I Charge as a Lawyer? Average lawyer hourly rate by state and practice area