In England & Wales, partners in or out of marriage can agree how the joint and severally hold assets will be divided without the intervention of the courts.
[1] Where agreement cannot be reached, the courts may be asked to determine a fair and equitable division.
A spouse who has made non-tangible contributions may claim an equitable interest in the marital property at divorce.
The Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act §307 (UMDA §307)[3] also allows for the equitable distribution of property and lists factors the court should consider, e.g. "the duration of the marriage, and prior marriage of either party, antenuptial agreement of the parties [which is the same as a prenuptial agreement or premarital agreement], the age, health, station, occupation, amount and sources of income, vocational skills, employability, estate, liabilities, and needs of each of the parties, custodials provisions..." etc.
For example, upon dissolution of a marriage in which the wife served as a stay-at-home mother for a substantial portion of the marriage, a court may award the wife a more-than-50% share of distributed property as advance compensation for her projected need to return to the work force at a lower wage than she would have been able to command had she spent her time developing outside-the-home work experience rather than laboring inside the home.