Before entering into a registered domestic partnership under California law, a same-sex couple executed a domestic partnership agreement which waived all property claims arising from the partnership including those arising on death. The parties later married during the brief period in which same-sex marriages were legal in California. One of the parties then died and the other claimed the rights of a pretermitted spouse. The intermediate appellate court affirmed denial of the claim, holding that the agreement was enforceable as a pre-marital agreement and that the parties’ subsequent marriage did not invalidate the agreement. Estate of Wilson, 150 Cal. Rptr. 3d 699 (Cal. Ct. App. 2012).
Special thanks to William LaPiana (Professor of Law, New York Law School) for bringing this case to my attention.
