Annual Survey of Virginia Law: Domestic Relations

Premarital agreements, or antenuptial contracts, are generally favored by the law when prospective spouses privately contract to vary, limit, or relinquish certain rights which they would otherwise acquire in each other's property, or in each other's estate, by reason of their impending marriage. Traditionally, premarital agreements were made by widows, widowers, or divorced older people, who wished to retain control of property acquired in a prior marriage and, upon death, pass such property on to the children of that prior marriage.