For couples drafting or reviewing prenuptial agreements in Charleston, Berkeley & Dorchester counties. Send a confidential message — we'll reply by email or phone, whichever you prefer.
Hall & Means drafts and reviews prenuptial agreements for couples across Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties. A well-drafted prenup is a planning document, not a pessimism document — it documents financial expectations, protects pre-marital assets, and makes a marriage's financial framework explicit before life events can complicate it. We work with first-time prenups, business owners, second marriages, blended families, and couples with significant disparities in pre-marital wealth.
Why Hall & Means
Mary Ann Hall and Jessica Means lead Hall & Means together, representing clients through divorce, custody, alimony, and the financial planning that precedes them. Prenuptial agreements live at the intersection — done well, they preempt the most painful financial conflicts. Both attorneys focus on family law in the 9th and 1st Judicial Circuit Family Courts.
Meet your attorneys →Built around advocating for our clients in divorce, custody, and family transitions. The Family Law Hub reflects that focus — written for the questions our clients actually ask.
Three-county family law practice across the 9th and 1st Judicial Circuit Family Courts, with a local network of mediators, financial professionals, and asset valuation experts.
You work with Mary Ann or Jessica. Your calls and emails are returned by your attorney — not screened by a paralegal, not routed to an associate.
What to expect
From the first call to a signed agreement, the path is the same for every client. We tell you what's happening, what it costs, and what choices are yours to make — before we ask you to commit to anything.
Phase 1
You reach out by phone or message. One of our staff or firm team members responds — typical response time within 24 hours. Confidentiality starts with the first interaction. The first conversation is focused on understanding your financial situation, the wedding timeline, and whether both of you will have independent counsel.
Response within 24 hoursPhase 2
We schedule a 2-hour consultation and review the financial picture (assets, debts, businesses, anticipated inheritances). An initial retainer is quoted at that consultation, based on the complexity of your case — initial because the final cost depends on how negotiations unfold with the other side's counsel.
Attorney-client privileged from word onePhase 3
If we're a fit, we put a representation agreement in place. We coordinate full asset and debt disclosure between both parties (required for enforceability) and draft the agreement. A well-drafted prenup anticipates the scenarios that come up later — that's what makes it hold up in court.
Drafting on your timeline, well before the weddingFinal Phase
We negotiate with the other party's counsel on terms you've authorized, revise the draft, and finalize the signed agreement — comfortably before the wedding, not on the eve of it. You retain authority over substantive decisions. We handle procedural matters (drafting iterations, scheduling, coordination with opposing counsel) without asking permission for each step. Throughout, you work directly with Mary Ann or Jessica.
Direct attorney access throughoutPrenuptial agreements in South Carolina
South Carolina enforces prenuptial agreements when they meet specific requirements. Drafting matters. So does timing.
A prenuptial agreement can protect pre-marital assets, allocate ownership of a business interest, define how debt brought into the marriage stays separate, waive or limit spousal support, address how appreciation of separate property is treated, and document expectations around inheritance or future gifts. It can also coordinate with estate planning — particularly important in second marriages with children from prior relationships.
A prenup cannot predetermine child custody or visitation — South Carolina courts will not enforce those provisions because they're decided in the children's best interest at the time, not in advance. A prenup cannot waive child support (the child's right, not a parent's right). And a prenup cannot contain unconscionable terms — SC courts have rejected agreements that left one spouse destitute. Some things you simply cannot contract around.
For a SC prenup to hold up, it must be: signed voluntarily (no coercion — never presented at the rehearsal dinner), based on full and fair financial disclosure by both parties, with each party represented by independent counsel (or knowingly waiving counsel in writing), executed with reasonable lead time before the wedding, and conscionable both at signing and at the time it's enforced.
The closer to the wedding, the higher the coercion risk. Start the conversation early.
Get in touch
Submit the form and we'll reply within one business day — by email or phone, whichever you prefer. Everything you share is protected by attorney-client privilege from the first message.
Phone
Office
1816 Belgrade Avenue, Ste. 101
Charleston, SC 29407
Hours
Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
