Imagine that you are preparing for your big wedding day. As you get dressed for the big occasion, your spouse comes to you and says that the two of you should sign a prenuptial agreement. The contract will protect you, your spouse says. Since you trust your spouse, you sign it, thinking that the document is in your best interest.

This hypothetical situation is actually just one way in which a prenuptial agreement can be deemed invalid. Prenuptial agreements are critical documents that can help any couple getting married — but they also aren’t perfect documents that are shielded from a legal challenge. The spouses must draft their prenup and discuss the topics that they will include in their prenup thoroughly before they sign. Not having enough time to consider the document can make the document (if not all of it, then part of it) invalid under a legal challenge.

The actual wording of the prenup is very important too. If your prenuptial agreement includes any language pertaining to alimony, child support or child custody, then it is invalid. Those are forbidden provisions. Additionally, the information contained in the document must be true. False information can lead to a prenup being partially or completely struck down.

There also needs to be a certain fairness to the document. A judge may deem a prenup unconscionable if it is legally challenged by one of the spouses. This means that in the eyes of the judge, he or she thinks the prenup unfairly favors one spouse over the other and, as such, is invalid.