Registering a prenuptial agreement 

In a marriage or a registered partnership, both spouses have marital rights to the other spouse’s property. When a marriage or registered partnership ends either because of death or divorce, the property of the spouses is divided. Marital rights to property mean that both spouses have the right to obtain half of their combined property.

However, by concluding a prenuptial agreement, the spouses can agree that their combined property is not split in half as laid down in the Marriage Act. In the prenuptial agreement, the spouses must determine whether either or one of them has marital rights to each other’s property or part of it.

For example, you can agree that

• the extent of the marital right depends on whether your union ends in divorce or death
• marital rights do not apply to pre-marriage assets
• you do not have the marital right to your spouse’s inheritance, or a company or a farm that your spouse owns
• neither has a marital right to any of their spouse's property.

You can use the services of a lawyer or a public legal aid office in the preparation of the prenuptial agreement. The Digital and Population Data Services Agency cannot help in formulating the prenuptial agreement.

For a prenuptial agreement to be valid, it must be

• in writing
• dated
• signed
• witnessed by two accessible witnesses, and
• registered with the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

However, the witnesses do not have to prove the signing, only the signatures.

You are disqualified as a witness if the person making the prenuptial agreement is

• your current or former spouse or cohabiting partner
• your sibling
• your parent
• your child
• a family member of one of the above.

The witness must be aged 15 or over and understand the significance of witnessing.

The Digital and Population Data Services Agency does not comment on the content of the agreement.

In other words, you must ensure that the content and form of the prenuptial agreement sent to us are expedient. The Digital and Population Data Services Agency does not ensure that the witnesses are accessible or otherwise check the content of the agreement or any formal errors.

Please, note as well that the registration does not correct formatting errors. It is therefore possible that a registered prenuptial agreement may not be valid if it contains other formal errors.

You can conclude a prenuptial agreement before the marriage ceremony or at any time during the marriage. You can also modify or cancel it by entering into a new agreement.

• You can send the agreement for registration one month before the day of the wedding at the earliest. However, the agreement will only be registered on the day of the wedding.
• At any time during the marriage.

You cannot submit the agreement to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency for registration after the death of your spouse, or after an application for divorce has been filed even if it had been prepared in a correct manner before or during the marriage.

No. You must write the prenuptial agreement yourself and deliver the completed prenuptial agreement to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency for registration. 

No. Siblings, parents, children or other persons that are comparable to a partner or a family member cannot certify the authenticity of the signatures. 

A notary public working at the Digital and Population Data Services Agency may be a witness in the agreement. In the largest service locations, it is possible to obtain two public notaries as witnesses for a prenuptial agreement. 

Make a reservation for the Notary Public service in our reservation system. Please mention in your reservation if you wish one or two Notary Public to act as witnesses.  A fee is charged for certifying the authenticity of the signatures. If you want us to provide both witnesses, we charge EUR 68 (4 x EUR 17) for the service.

No, the prenuptial agreement must be signed using a pen. Send the signed, original prenuptial agreement and the completed registration form to us or bring them to the mailbox of any of our service locations. We will return the original prenuptial agreement to you by mail.

Submit a new prenuptial agreement and request its registration using the instructions and form in the “Do the following” section. Please note that a previous prenuptial agreement may remain in force in some respects if the new prenuptial agreement does not change everything in the previous one.

We recommend that you ask a lawyer or a public legal aid office for assistance in the preparation of the agreement.

Make a new prenuptial agreement, in which you state that both have a marital right to the other's property again. Request its registration using the instructions and form in the “Do the following” section.

We recommend that you ask a lawyer or a public legal aid office for assistance in the preparation of the agreement.

You will usually need a power of attorney when acting on behalf of another person. Please attach the power of attorney to your application.

However, you do not need a power of attorney if you are a guardian of a minor, a lawyer, a licensed legal counsel or a public legal aid attorney.

No, the prenuptial agreement must be signed using a pen. Send the signed, original prenuptial agreement and the completed registration form to us or bring them to the mailbox of any of our service locations. We will return the original prenuptial agreement to you by mail.

You do not need to submit the registration request together. Either one of you can submit the request alone. 

Yes. You can hand over the original prenuptial agreement and the registration form when you register for the wedding ceremony or you can give the documents to the person officiating at the ceremony.

Yes. Only a registered prenuptial agreement is valid.

The Digital and Population Data Services Agency can only register prenuptial agreements prepared in Finnish or Swedish.

You can sign a prenuptial agreement drawn up in both Finnish or Swedish and in some other language.

If your prenuptial agreement is in a language other than Finnish or Swedish, it must be translated by an authorised translator before the agreement is sent to us for registration.

Using an agent is not obligatory. The agent is the person who takes care of the registration of the prenuptial agreement on your behalf. The lawyer who has drawn up your prenuptial agreement can also serve as the agent.

You should use the name that you have when sending the form to us.

The prenuptial agreement becomes valid once it has been registered. 

• If it has been submitted for registration before the wedding ceremony it becomes valid on the day of the wedding. The Digital and Population Data Services Agency can only register the prenuptial agreement when the wedding date can be viewed in the Population Information System.  
• If the agreement has been submitted for registration after the day of the wedding, it will become valid on the day it is received by the agency even if the application would be processed later.

No. A prenuptial agreement must be submitted for registration before a District Court has received your application for divorce. 

You can check our processing times on this page. Enquiries about the registration will not speed up the processing of the agreement.

Read more about ordering a copy of a registered prenuptial agreement.