My girlfriend and I will get married at the beginning of next year in the Dominican Republic and I am interested in executing a prenuptial agreement because we plan to get married under the separate estates regime (separación de bienes). Please inform me if this agreement will be valid in the Dominican Republic even though it has been signed in Miami and how long does it take to be enforceable.

When you execute a prenuptial agreement in one jurisdiction and wish to make it enforceable in another jurisdiction, then several legalizations need to be fulfilled. In your case, if you sign the agreement in Miami, it must be done before a notary public in Miami who will certify the signatures of the contracting parties. Then you will need to legalize the agreement in the Dominican Consulate in said city. You also have the option of signing and legalizing the agreement before the Dominican Consul because this officer also serves as notary public.

Once the document is in the Dominican Republic it should be legalized in the Ministry of Foreign Relations, since the Foreign Relations Minister is in charge of certifying the signatures of all Dominican Consuls, as their superior. In the event that this agreement is in another language other than Spanish, it must be certified before the Ministry of Foreign Relations, translated and then the translation will have to be legalized by the Attorney General’s Office of the Dominican Republic.

Our legislation also provides that if the future spouses are or will be merchants (that is, practice commerce regularly) the agreement must be notified to all the notaries of the corresponding jurisdiction and at the Civil Registry Office where the marriage will be registered. In the event that the spouses are not merchants, this process is not required.