Yes and No! Although prenuptial agreements have in recent years hit the headlines following the seminal case of Radmacher –v- Granatino in 2010, ultimately prenuptial agreements are never fully legally binding in the sense that the Courts will not be bound by them in the event of subsequent divorce proceedings.  However, they are very useful in helping people record their intentions and for avoiding arguments later on.  Although the Courts are not strictly bound by prenuptials, they will always take them into account when deciding how to distribute assets built up during a marriage.  When the Courts are required to resolve financial disputes within divorce their primary objective is (subject to need and especially the needs of the children) to bring about a fair financial outcome taking all the circumstances into consideration. This would require the Court to consider the fairness of any prenuptial agreement freely and properly entered into by the parties and whether it would now be appropriate to hold the parties to the agreement. It will all depend on the length of the marriage, the ages of the children, and any changes in circumstances since the agreement was made.

Those who have entered into a legal civil partnership to have their relationship recognised by the law have the same legal rights in relation to property and money as is the case for married couples.  Also upon dissolution of a civil partnership they have the same claims for property and money as married couples have on divorce. This is the case regardless of whether the parties are of the same sex or the opposite sex.  Also, civil partners have the same legal rights as married couples in most other legal areas such as inheritance and taxation.