Does Every Marriage Need a Prenup?
The staff writer Jennifer Wilson explores why prenuptial agreements have boomed in popularity among millennial and Gen Z couples.
The staff writer Jennifer Wilson explores why prenuptial agreements have boomed in popularity among millennial and Gen Z couples.

January 9, 2026
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Prenups have gone from a tool of the ultra-wealthy, carrying a whiff of scandal, to a more widespread request for aspirational young couples with few assets. The staff writer Jennifer Wilson spoke with the celebrity divorce attorney Laura Wasser, and found that generations who grew up in the era of universal no-fault divorce “just don’t trust marriage” as their elders did; “they want it in writing,” and they have developed apps that make it easy. Clauses calling for non-disparagement on social media are a common feature. But the boom in prenups, Wilson tells David Remnick, has led to couples trying to negotiate even intimate issues such as frequency of sex and body-mass index.
Wilson’s “Why Millennials Love Prenups” appeared in the December 29, 2025 & January 5, 2026, issue of The New Yorker.
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