After the Tender: How Your Estate Plan and Prenup Should Change in 2026

The first 90 days after the event

The work in the three months after a tender or IPO is mostly clean-up and review, not net-new structuring. The key items:

• Update the revocable trust funding. Cash and tradable stock should be retitled into the trust if not already. Brokerage account beneficiary designations should be reviewed to confirm they route correctly. Stock previously sitting in your personal name as concentrated equity may now be in a brokerage account that needs to be re-registered in the name of the revocable trust. This is where probate-avoidance is won or lost.
• Confirm the QSBS hold (if applicable). If you sold QSBS-eligible stock at the event and want to claim the Section 1202 exclusion, the holding period and qualification need to be documented. If you are holding for the 5-year (100%) exclusion, mark the date in your calendar. Section 1045 rollover treatment for QSBS sold before the 5-year mark is also worth a specialist conversation.
• Revisit the federal exemption math. A post-event balance sheet may put the couple above the $30 million federal threshold, which changes the tax planning conversation. Couples that were comfortably under the exemption before the event may now have a 40% federal estate tax exposure to model.
• Refresh state-specific planning. NY couples crossing the $7.35 million state exemption now have an estate tax conversation. CA couples have a probate conversation. MA couples have the $2 million Massachusetts estate tax cliff conversation. The state-level analysis often matters more than the federal-level for couples below $30 million, because the state thresholds are much lower.
• Review the prenup characterization. If the prenup designated specific equity grants as separate property and the equity is now cash in a different account, the characterization needs to follow the asset. A postnup or amendment can document this cleanly.

What changes when the federal exemption math flips

For couples whose combined estate was clearly under the $30 million federal exemption before the event, the standard estate plan and the unified credit are enough. No transfer tax planning is needed.

After a liquidity event that pushes the balance sheet above the threshold, the conversation changes. The questions become:

• How much of the post-event estate sits above the exemption?
• What is the projected growth on the assets above the exemption over the next 10 to 20 years?
• Are there structures (annual gifting, charitable strategies, trust funding using remaining exemption) that can move the taxable estate back below the threshold?

The math drives the structuring. For a couple at $25 million combined, the post-event work is mostly documentation and prenup characterization. For a couple at $80 million combined after the event, the conversation is about which OBBB-era tools (annual gifting at the $19,000 per recipient cap, charitable lead trusts, completed gifts using remaining lifetime exemption) make sense in their specific facts. The specialist handles the modeling; Neptune keeps the foundational documents current alongside it.

When a postnup makes sense

A postnup is the during-marriage equivalent of a prenup. Postnups are harder to enforce than prenups in most states because the wedding deadline that pushes prenups forward is gone, and case law treats during-marriage agreements with extra scrutiny. The New York City Bar's guidance on postnup enforceability requires full financial disclosure, independent legal representation, and substantive fairness at execution and enforcement. The bar is real, but a properly drafted postnup is still much better than ambiguity.

Couples who often benefit from a post-event postnup:

• Couples whose prenup did not specifically address the liquidity event. A postnup can document how the proceeds were characterized.
• Couples whose financial picture changed materially. The post-event balance sheet is often very different from the pre-event picture. A postnup can reset expectations on a clean foundation.
• Couples planning for a second liquidity event. If one partner is at a startup with another anticipated event, a postnup can address it forward rather than reactively.
• Couples who married without a prenup. The postnup is then the first formal asset characterization document and is worth getting right.

Neptune offers postnups on the same couple-first, flat-fee model as prenups. Each partner gets an independent state-licensed family law attorney from the vetted network.

Where Neptune fits post-event

For couples already on Neptune's standard $2,500 estate plan, the post-event work is mostly absorbed by the long-term partner relationship. Updating the revocable trust funding, refreshing beneficiary designations, and adjusting the document set as life changes is part of how the product is built. Most couples revisit their estate plan with Neptune every few years or after major life events; a liquidity event is exactly the kind of trigger that justifies an update cycle.

For couples crossing the federal exemption threshold after the event, or for couples who used a SLAT pre-event and now need post-event coordination, the right move stays with a tax-focused specialist. The standard plan and the specialist work alongside each other. The standard plan covers the foundation: revocable trust, pour-over wills, healthcare directives, durable powers of attorney, and guardian designations. The specialist handles the irrevocable structures, the transfer tax modeling, and the QSBS coordination.

Related guides

• Trust vs Will: Key Differences for Couples
• Step-Up in Basis for Married Couples
• Prenup vs Trust: Which Is Right for You?