An Indonesian prenuptial agreement can be amended after marriage if both spouses agree and the amendment does not prejudice third parties. For a foreigner married to an Indonesian, this means an existing marital agreement is not necessarily fixed permanently if the spouses later want to change how property, income, business interests, or liabilities are treated.
When Can an Indonesian Prenup Be Amended?
An existing marital agreement can be amended or revoked during the marriage if both spouses agree. Neither spouse can unilaterally change its terms.
What Can Be Changed — and What Are the Limits?
A marital agreement can regulate marital property and other matters permitted under Indonesian law. An amendment may change existing arrangements concerning the separation or treatment of assets, income, business interests, asset management, or liabilities.
The principal restriction is that an amendment cannot prejudice third parties. For example, spouses cannot change their property arrangements to eliminate an existing creditor’s rights or remove an asset from an obligation that has already arisen.
For foreign-Indonesian couples, an amendment cannot circumvent restrictions imposed on foreign nationals. A marital agreement may regulate the property relationship between husband and wife, but it cannot give a foreign spouse a land right that Indonesian law does not permit a foreign national to hold.
How Is a Prenup Amendment Made Legally Effective?
The amendment should clearly identify the existing marital agreement, the provisions being changed, and the terms that will continue to apply.
For Muslim marriages, marital agreements made before, at the time of, or during marriage are made before a notary and recorded through the Office of Religious Affairs (Kantor Urusan Agama or KUA), or the relevant overseas marriage registrar where applicable.
For marriages recorded through Indonesia’s civil-registration system, the rules also provide for the registration of changes to or revocation of marital agreements. The process involves the relevant notarial deed and marriage-registration documentation, with the change recorded through the civil-registration authorities (Dukcapil).
The appropriate route consequently depends on how the marriage itself is registered. Formalizing and recording the amendment ensures that the change is reflected through the relevant Indonesian marriage-registration system rather than existing only as an agreement between the spouses.
Changing Your Prenup? Contact Jarji Zaidan & Partners
Foreigners married to Indonesians who want to change an existing prenuptial agreement: contact us at info@jarjizaidan-partners.com or on WhatsApp +62 821-9000-3273 / +62 813-1403-8907.
