Marriage – Premarital Agreements – Tennessee

36-3-501. Enforcement of antenuptial agreements.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, except as provided in § 36-3-502, any antenuptial or prenuptial agreement entered into by spouses concerning property owned by either spouse before the marriage that is the subject of such agreement shall be binding upon any court having jurisdiction over such spouses and/or such agreement if such agreement is determined, in the discretion of such court, to have been entered into by such spouses freely, knowledgeably and in good faith and without exertion of duress or undue influence upon either spouse. The terms of such agreement shall be enforceable by all remedies available for enforcement of contract terms.

36-3-502. Creditor’s rights.

(a) No marriage settlement or other marriage contract shall be good against creditors, where a greater value is secured to the intended wife, and the children of the marriage, or either of them, than the portion actually received with the wife in marriage, and such estate as the husband at the time of the husband’s marriage shall be possessed of, after deducting the just debts by the husband then due and owing.
(b) In case of any suit upon any such marriage contract, where any creditor is a party, the burden of proof lies upon the person claiming under such marriage contract.
(c) In such case, any legacy given to the wife in general words, and not in trust, or any distributive share in an estate during coverture, shall be taken as a part of the portion received with the wife, and secured to those claiming under the marriage contract, to make up any deficiency created by the claims of creditors on the property conveyed in the marriage contract.

36-3-503. Antenuptial debts of wife — Nonliability of husband.
No husband shall be liable for the debts, contracts or obligations of the wife incurred by the wife previous to marriage.

36-3-504. Disabilities of coverture removed from married women — Statute of limitations.

(a) Married women are fully emancipated from all disability on account of coverture, and the common law as to the disability of married women and its effects on the rights of property of the wife, is totally abrogated, except as set out in § 36-3-505, and marriage shall not impose any disability or incapacity on a woman as to the ownership, acquisition or disposition of property of any sort, or as to the wife’s capacity to make contracts and to do all acts in reference to property that the wife could lawfully do, if the wife were not married, but every woman now married, or hereafter to be married, shall have the same capacity to acquire, hold, manage, control, use, enjoy and dispose of, all property, real and personal, in possession, and to make any contract in reference to it, and to bind herself personally, and to sue and be sued with all the rights and incidents thereof, as if the wife were not married.
(b) All of the statutes of limitation that apply in favor of or against a feme sole, and the feme sole’s property, shall apply and operate in favor of or against married women and their property.

36-3-505. Tenancies by entirety unaffected.
Nothing in § 36-3-504 shall be construed as abolishing tenancies by the entirety.

Disclaimer: This law summary is not legal advice. If you are not an attorney, you should consult an attorney about serious legal matters.