Thank you!
My husband-to-be and I would like to do a prenup. A bit confused as to how it works in Switzerland - where I am from, we would get it drawn up by a lawyer but it appears to be done by a Notary in CH, am I correct? Can it be any notary? Also, will a prenup drawn up in Switzerland cover assets overseas (New Zealand in my case). Presumably the prenup will be in German/French/Italian only? Would be grateful for some recommendations and any idea of cost.
Notaries *are* lawyers, and the notarization procedure is all about them making sure you understand the shit you're signing. You can of course also involve an independent lawyer (or multiple) to draft / get second opinion on the contract, but still have to sign it in front of an official notary for legal effect
Yes
If you divorce in switzerland sure, but if one or both of you move abroad, there will be a question (or even choice) of jurisdiction to divorce in and it can get pretty complicated. Divorce laws are hairy in a lot of countries, there's no 100% guarantee your new jurisdiction won't just toss away your prenup.
I don't believe there's any such restrictions in ZGB. But it should be a language that both you and the notary are able to converse in (or else you're going to foot the bill(s) for translators when signing it and during any disputes from it). English is probably a fairly safe bet.
Separation of assets of spouses (German: Gütertrennung) may go some way to helping here.
And, if resident, Swiss inheritance laws would prevail over an agreement.
You only need a pre-nup in case of a separation or divorce. You're not yet married. So anything you own individually before the marriage wouldn't be considered in a (Swiss) divorce. The pre-nup (afaik) only needs to concern the separation of any asset accrued during the marriage.
btw a swiss lawyer told me that pre-nups are a nightmare because no matter what good intentions go into setting them up, they're often contested later on, usually by one party saying they 'didn't understand' or were 'coerced'
The cost will depend on the Canton the contract is notarised in, I believe the allowed cost range is determined by the canton. Not sure if you can chose or if it must be done by a notary in the one canton you live in. It's helpful to set a maximum cost beforehand for those costs that are determined by hours worked, IMO this is a must. See here for the fees in canton Zürich to give you an idea. Here's an overview of the cost range by Canton (only about 2/3 of all 26 cantons are on that list).
The inventory is to be complete and covers worldwide assets.
The governing law (also see the link) is national (aka "federal"), so little to no change by changing the location within Switzerland.
As for suggestions, just search for notaries by municipality or canton.
Inheritance law shouldn't affect you WRT the marriage if you have separation of goods. But if you have close relatives (children, siblings, parents, grandparents) you probably want to check on that as well as AFAIK the place of death generally determines the governing law, and Swiss law rules that close relatives have mandatory minimum shares the lessor can't reduce (those shares are bound to change in the coming years as the law is being revised), that reduces the lessor's flexibility by quite a bit.
If done by a notary in Zurich it will be drafted in German and then you'll be given a list of approved translators who will do a certified translation into English.
That's about a will, not prenup. Different documents serving totally different purposes.
Yes, there are certain things prescribed by the laws that you can't get rid of just so by signing a piece of paper - like compulsory inheritance portions that you mention, or child support, etc. Any lawyer worth their money and I believe notary itself too will advise you if you put something obviously unenforceable like that into your prenup/will.
But there are still good benefits to be had from using prenup/will. Like establishing Gütertrennung (separation of assets/income) property regime vs. the default Errungenschaftsbeteiligung (communal property) requires signing a marriage contract.