For athletes and entertainers
Do professional athletes and entertainers need a prenup?
Often, yes. A career in sport or entertainment tends to pay big, fast, and briefly, and much of the money keeps arriving long after the work through bonuses, royalties, and endorsement deals. A prenup lets you and your partner agree in advance how that time-shifted income, and the brand behind it, are treated. Neptune is the lawyer-led online prenup service: both partners get their own lawyer for one flat fee.
Flat fee of $5,000 per couple. No payment to get started.
The career shape
A career that pays big, fast, and briefly
Most careers spread income across decades. Sport and entertainment do the opposite. Peak earnings land in a handful of years, then income can fall sharply, and one injury or one shift in demand can end the run early. Playing careers in several major leagues commonly end when an athlete is around 30.
That shape matters because current income can badly overstate lifetime earnings. Money made in a few peak years may need to support you for decades after. A court unfamiliar with these careers will not know that on its own. A prenup is where you can say it.
Earned now, paid later
The hardest question is timing, not the amount
A lot of the money in these careers is earned in one moment but paid across many. That gap between when income is earned and when it arrives is where the hard questions sit, and rules for answering them differ from state to state.
Signing and guaranteed money
A signing bonus is paid up front but is meant to compensate a whole contract. Whether it counts as shared when a divorce comes can turn on when the right to it was earned, not just when it landed in the account. Deferring a payment to avoid that rarely settles the question on its own.
Deferred and future pay
A lot of entertainment and sports money is deliberately spread across years for tax reasons. Pay earned during a marriage but scheduled to arrive after it can still be treated as shared, so how those future payments are split is its own question.
A couple where one partner signs a multi-year contract with a large signing bonus might find that bonus treated as shared even if the marriage ends before the contract does. Your attorney can review how the timing rules apply where you live, and a prenup can settle the treatment in advance.
The brand outlives the contract
The name keeps earning after the career slows
For many athletes and entertainers, the biggest long-term value is not the playing or performing contract at all. It is the brand and the rights that keep generating income after the season, the role, or the release.
Endorsements and sponsorships
Off-the-field income can outweigh the playing or performing contract, and a partner may argue they helped build the name behind it. A prenup can address how endorsement income, and the brand it rests on, are treated.
Image, likeness, and NIL rights
The right to your own name, image, and likeness is an asset in its own right, and it keeps earning through licensing long after a season or a role ends. A prenup can describe how those rights, and the income from them, are handled.
Royalties and catalogs
Royalties from recordings, film, or a catalog can pay for decades, and a work made during a marriage can gain value long after from a single license. Courts often separate the copyright itself from the right to receive royalties, and a prenup can address both.
What a prenup can address
Six places these careers meet prenup planning
A short earning window
Careers in sport and entertainment are frequently measured in years, not decades. Current high income can mislead. A prenup can reflect that the money needs to last far beyond the years it arrives in.
When a bonus was earned versus paid
Signing bonuses, roster bonuses, and guaranteed money can be characterized by when the right vested rather than the day of payment. A prenup can set out, in advance, how each is treated.
A brand built before the marriage
If you arrive at the wedding with an established name and reputation, a prenup can clarify that the underlying brand stays separate while addressing how new income built on it is handled.
Royalties that keep paying
Income from a recording, a role, or a catalog can continue for years and swing with a single new license. A prenup can describe how ongoing royalties, and the works behind them, are treated.
Career-ending and disability protection
A career can end with one injury. Proceeds from disability or career-ending insurance raise their own questions. A prenup can address how those proceeds are characterized.
Privacy about your finances
A public divorce can put private numbers on display. A prenup can include confidentiality and non-disclosure terms so the details of your finances stay between the two of you.
How Neptune works
Three steps to a prenup built for how you earn
Guided intake for your career
Answer questions about how you are paid: salary, bonuses, endorsements, royalties, and image rights. Plain language, no legal jargon.
Your own attorney, on a free consultation
Each partner is connected with a separate, licensed attorney who can review how bonuses, deferred pay, and brand income fit into your agreement.
A finished agreement
Your attorneys draft an agreement built around a career that earns fast and pays over time. Turnaround is typically around 3 to 4 weeks when both partners use Neptune attorneys.
Transparent pricing
One flat fee. Two independent attorneys.
Each partner gets their own licensed attorney. One drafts the agreement; the other reviews it on behalf of the second partner.
$5,000
per couple, total
Rush pricing applies when the wedding is within 45 days. No payment required to get started.
Guides for you
Guides on assets, debt, and equity
Start with the guides other couples read before they begin, then take the next step when you are ready.
Common questions from athletes and entertainers
Do professional athletes and entertainers need a prenup?
For many, a prenup is worth considering because of a specific pattern: a short window of very high income, and money that keeps arriving long after the work through bonuses, royalties, and endorsement deals. A prenup lets you and your partner agree in advance how that time-shifted income and the brand behind it are treated. It is planning, not a prediction that the marriage will fail.
How is a signing bonus treated if we divorce?
A signing bonus is paid up front but is meant to compensate a full contract, so the question is often when the right to it was earned rather than the day it was paid. A bonus received during the marriage may be treated as shared even though it pays for work that continues after a divorce. Rules for dividing property differ from state to state, and your attorney can review what applies where you live. A prenup can set out how bonuses and guaranteed money are handled.
What happens to my endorsement, image, and royalty income?
Endorsements, image and likeness rights, and royalties can keep paying for years and often outweigh the playing or performing contract. A partner may argue they helped build the brand behind them. Courts also frequently separate the underlying copyright from the right to receive royalties. A prenup can describe how these income streams, and the rights they rest on, are treated so it is not argued from scratch later.
My career could be short. Can a prenup account for that?
Yes. Careers in sport and entertainment are frequently measured in years, so current income can overstate lifetime earnings. A prenup can reflect that the money earned in a few peak years may need to support you for decades afterward, and can address spousal support and future income with that reality in mind rather than leaving it to a court unfamiliar with these careers.
What does it cost and how long does it take?
Neptune charges a flat fee of $5,000 per couple, which covers two independent attorneys, one for each partner. No payment is required to get started. Turnaround is typically around 3 to 4 weeks when both partners use Neptune attorneys. Rush pricing applies when the wedding is within 45 days.