Signing a Prenuptial Agreement in Portugal
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How a Portuguese prenuptial agreement works: the property regimes, the cost, the inheritance waiver, and why you must sign it before the wedding.
Last verified: October 2026.
Who this is for
- You plan to marry in Portugal and want to choose how your property is owned.
- You have children from an earlier relationship and want your estate to pass to them.
- You are an international couple and want to know which country's rules apply.
Not for you if: you are already married and want to decide who inherits from you. Read Making a Will and Handling an Inheritance in Portugal instead.
A prenuptial agreement (convenção antenupcial) lets you and your future spouse choose how you will own property during the marriage. Without one, you share what you acquire during the marriage. You sign it before the wedding, at a civil registry office or a notary. At a registry office it costs €100 for a standard regime or €160 for a custom one. It lapses if you do not marry within a year, and you cannot change your regime after the wedding. It is also the only way for spouses to give up their right to inherit from each other.
What a prenuptial agreement does
The agreement fixes your property regime (regime de bens). That is the set of rules on who owns what during the marriage, and how it is split when the marriage ends.
You can pick one of the regimes set out in the Civil Code, or write your own terms within the limits of the law. You can also use the agreement to leave property to each other, or to give up your rights as each other's heir (see below).
Three timing rules matter:
- It must exist before the wedding. You can change or cancel it freely until the wedding day, as long as everyone who signed it agrees, in the same form.
- It lapses after one year. If you do not marry within a year of signing, it no longer counts. It also falls away if the marriage is later annulled.
- It binds other people only once registered. Until it is registered, it does not protect you against third parties, such as your spouse's creditors. Your heirs are bound by it either way.
What happens if you sign nothing
If you marry in Portugal without an agreement, the law treats your marriage as community of acquired property (comunhão de adquiridos). The same applies if your agreement lapsed or is invalid.
Two groups are always placed under separation of property, whatever they choose:
- Anyone who marries at 60 or over. If either of you has turned 60 by the wedding day, separation is compulsory. You may still give each other gifts.
- Couples who marry without the preliminary marriage process. This is the paperwork stage at the civil registry before the wedding.
The three property regimes
| Regime | What is shared | Who uses it |
|---|---|---|
| Community of acquired property (comunhão de adquiridos) | What either of you earns or buys during the marriage. What you owned before, inherited, or were given stays yours. | The default if you sign nothing |
| General community (comunhão geral) | Everything, including what you owned before, with a few personal exceptions | Only by agreement; not allowed if either of you already has children |
| Separation of property (separação de bens) | Nothing. Each of you keeps and manages your own assets. | By agreement, or compulsory at 60 or over |
In community of acquired property, each spouse owns half of the shared assets. Any clause saying otherwise is void.
What the agreement cannot do
The law sets limits. A prenuptial agreement cannot:
- set out who inherits from you, beyond the specific options the Civil Code allows;
- change your rights and duties as spouses or as parents;
- change the rules on how the couple's assets are managed;
- make certain personal assets shared, such as a life interest in property, personal belongings, or compensation for personal injury.
If either of you already has children, even adult children, you cannot choose general community of property.
Giving up your right to inherit from each other
Under Portuguese law, a surviving spouse is a reserved heir. That means a fixed share of the estate (the legítima) goes to the spouse, and a will cannot take it away. With children, the spouse and children share two thirds of the estate between them. The reserved shares are set out in the wills and inheritance guide.
Since 1 September 2018, engaged couples can give up this status in their prenuptial agreement. The rules are strict:
- It must be mutual. You both give up the same right. One spouse cannot waive alone.
- It only works with separation of property. That can be the regime you choose, or the one imposed because one of you is 60 or over. Couples in community of property cannot use it.
- It must be in the prenuptial agreement. You cannot add it after the wedding.
- It can be conditional. For example, the waiver can apply only if children or other named relatives survive. The condition does not have to be the same for both of you.
This option is mainly used in second marriages and blended families. It lets each spouse's estate pass to their own children without the other spouse taking a reserved share first.
A spouse who gave up the right can still receive gifts, in life or by will, up to the value of the share they gave up. The children cannot ask a court to cut those gifts back.
What the surviving spouse keeps
The waiver affects inheritance only. The surviving spouse still keeps:
- The right to maintenance from the estate, and any social security benefits paid on a death.
- Five years in the family home. If the home belonged to the spouse who died, the survivor can live there for five years and use its contents.
- A lifelong right, from age 65. If the survivor was 65 or over when the spouse died, the right to live in the home lasts for life.
- A possible extension. A court can extend the five years in exceptional cases, for example if the survivor is in special need.
- A tenancy afterwards. After the five years, the survivor can stay as a tenant at market rent. If the parties cannot agree the terms, a court can set them.
- First refusal. If the owners sell the home, the survivor has the right to buy it first, while living there.
There are two limits. The right to stay ends if the survivor does not live in the home for more than a year, unless the absence is not their fault. And it does not apply if the survivor owns another home in the same municipality. For homes in Lisbon or Porto, a home in a neighbouring municipality also counts.
How to make one
- Decide on your regime. Choose community of acquired property, general community, separation, or custom terms. Decide whether you want the mutual inheritance waiver.
- Take advice if your situation is complex. This applies if you have children from earlier relationships, property abroad, or want the waiver. Lawyers and solicitadores set their own fees.
- Choose where to sign. You can make a declaration before an official at any civil registry office (Conservatória do Registo Civil), or sign a public deed at a notary. You must both attend, or send a representative with special powers.
- Sign before the wedding. Marry within one year of signing.
- Make sure it is registered. If you sign at a notary, the agreement must then be registered at the civil registry. Keep a certified copy with your marriage papers.
See Getting Married in Portugal for the marriage process, and Using a Notary and Certifying Documents in Portugal if you sign at a notary.
What it costs
| Item | Fee at a civil registry office |
|---|---|
| Prenuptial agreement, change, or cancellation, with a standard regime | €100 |
| Prenuptial agreement, change, or cancellation, with a custom regime | €160 |
| Registering an agreement signed elsewhere, such as at a notary | €30 |
| Marriage process and registration (for comparison) | €120 |
A notary sets their own price for the deed. Ask for a written quote. Legal advice is a separate cost, and no official fee scale exists for it.
You cannot change it after the wedding
Once you are married, the law does not let you change your prenuptial agreement or your property regime. This applies whether you chose the regime or the law imposed it. Spouses also cannot sell property to each other, except in narrow cases.
The main exceptions are a court-ordered separation of property, or a legal separation of the spouses and their property.
There is no simple way to switch regimes later. If you want separation of property, or the inheritance waiver, you must sign before the wedding.
If you are an international couple
If you married abroad, or you have different nationalities, first work out which country's law governs your property. Portugal and most other EU countries apply common EU rules for couples who married on or after 29 January 2019.
- You can choose the law. It can be the law of the country where either of you lives, or of either spouse's nationality, when you make the choice.
- The choice must be in writing. It must be dated and signed by both of you. Countries can add formal rules of their own.
- If you choose nothing, a fallback applies. The law of your first shared home after the wedding applies. If there is none, your shared nationality. Otherwise, the country you were most closely connected to when you married.
- One law covers everything. The chosen law applies to all your property, wherever it is.
This is separate from the law that decides who inherits from you. That is a different EU rule, covered in the wills and inheritance guide.
If Portugal becomes your first shared home after you marry, Portuguese law may apply by default. That means community of acquired property, unless you signed an agreement.
Before you sign, check
- Which regime you want, and whether either of you is 60 or over.
- Whether either of you has children, which rules out general community.
- Whether you want the mutual inheritance waiver, and on what conditions.
- Which country's law applies to your property, if you are an international couple.
- That the agreement will be registered.
- That the wedding will take place within a year.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Property and inheritance rules depend on your family and the countries involved; check your own case with a lawyer before you act.
Sources
This guide is written from official sources and, where relevant, organisations' own websites.
- Procuradoria-Geral Distrital de Lisboa, Código Civil (Decreto-Lei n.º 47344/66), consolidated text: https://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=775&tabela=leis&ficha=1698 (articles 1698 to 1716 on prenuptial agreements: freedom of choice, limits in article 1699, inheritance waiver in article 1700(1)(c) and (3), survivor's rights in article 1707-A, form in article 1710, registration in article 1711, changes before the wedding in article 1712, immutability and exceptions in articles 1714 and 1715, one-year lapse in article 1716; articles 1717 default regime, 1720 compulsory separation at 60, 1730 half shares, 1733 excluded assets), checked 2 October 2026
- Procuradoria-Geral Distrital de Lisboa, Código Civil, consolidated text: https://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=775&tabela=leis&ficha=2156 (articles 2156 to 2162 reserved shares; article 2168(2) gifts to a spouse who waived), checked 2 October 2026
- Procuradoria-Geral Distrital de Lisboa, Lei n.º 48/2018, de 14 de agosto, as consolidated in the Código Civil: https://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=775&tabela=leis&ficha=1698 (inheritance waiver added, in force 1 September 2018), checked 2 October 2026
- gov.pt, Fazer uma convenção antenupcial: https://www.gov.pt/servicos/fazer-uma-convencao-antenupcial (signed before the marriage at a civil registry office or notary, by the couple or a representative with special powers), checked 2 October 2026
- Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado, Custos dos serviços: https://irn.justica.gov.pt/Custos-dos-servicos (€100 and €160 agreement fees, €30 registration of an agreement made elsewhere, €120 marriage process), checked 2 October 2026
- EUR-Lex, Council Regulation (EU) 2016/1103 on matrimonial property regimes: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32016R1103 (Portugal among participating states; article 21 one law for all assets; article 22 choice of law; article 23 written, dated, and signed; article 26 fallback rules; article 69(3) applicable-law rules for couples married or choosing a law after 29 January 2019), checked 2 October 2026
- European Commission, Property of international couples: https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/civil-justice/family-law/property-international-couples-marriages-and-registered-partnerships_en (rules apply from 29 January 2019; Portugal among the 18 participating countries), checked 2 October 2026
Last verified October 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.
