Prenuptial-agreement cost depends on the drafting or review, the financial information and the advice the work requires. Ask for a quote that identifies the work included and any work charged separately.
The work can include:
The Family Property Act (Alberta) requires each person's acknowledgement to be made before a lawyer who is not the other person's, so an agreement of this kind involves legal work on both sides. That is a structural feature of the cost rather than an optional extra.
Preparing an agreement from scratch and reviewing one the other person's lawyer has already drafted are different pieces of work.
A business interest, property in more than one place, or an interest that has to be valued takes more work than a short list of straightforward assets.
Where the two of you have settled terms between yourselves before anyone drafts anything, ask whether reviewing or revising terms you have already agreed is included in the quoted work.
Assembling what each of you has, and what it is worth, is work somebody has to do.
Each exchange of a revised draft between two lawyers is further work on both sides.
When asking for a quote, ask:
How do you charge for this work?
Does that cover drafting only, or the other person's independent legal advice as well?
What would it take to move from an estimate to a fixed figure?
What information do you want from me before you quote?
What happens to the cost if the other person's lawyer proposes changes?
Is reviewing an agreement that has already been drafted priced differently?
What is not included?
When is payment expected?
Taking those questions to a firm with your own circumstances in hand is how you get a number that applies to you rather than to somebody else.
For property agreements, the Family Property Act describes a written agreement and separate written acknowledgements before a lawyer other than the one acting for the other party or taking their acknowledgement.
The acknowledgements and the circumstances in which the terms were negotiated are separate questions to discuss with your lawyer.
What a prenuptial agreement can and cannot cover is dealt with on its own page.
prenuptial agreements in Alberta›
The acknowledgement each person makes, and the lawyer it is made before, has a page of its own.
independent legal advice for family agreements›
The other agreements Alberta couples make are set out together.
Writing terms out between yourselves raises its own questions.
Contact THEBIL Law to discuss a prenuptial agreement and the questions you want to address.
Send a consultation request at any time, or call 403-457-3128 during office hours. After you send the form, the office contacts you to arrange a meeting.