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Civil Partnerships
What are they
A civil partnership is a registered partnership between two people of the same sex that want to formalise their relationship.
The creation of a civil partnership gives the couple most of the same rights and responsibilities as a married heterosexual couple.
As with marriage there are certain people who cannot enter into a civil partnership and they are listed below:
A person can never register a civil partnership with any of the following relatives:-
• a child, including an adoptive or former adoptive child
• a parent, including an adoptive or former adoptive parent
• a brother or sister, including a half-brother or half-sister
• a parent’s brother or sister, including a half-brother or half-sister
• a grandparent
• a grandchild
• a brother’s or sister’s, including a half-brother’s or half-sister’s, child.
A person cannot register a civil partnership with any of the following relatives unless both of them are aged 21 or over when they register as civil partners and the younger of the two was not, before the age of 18, a child of the other’s family:-
• a child of a former spouse or civil partner
• a former civil partner of a parent or grandparent
• a former spouse of a parent or grandparent
• a grandchild of a former civil partner or former spouse.
A child of the other’s family means a person who:-
• has lived in the same household as the other person; and
• whom the other person has treated as a child of her/his family.
• A person cannot register a civil partnership with any of the following relatives unless both s/he and the relative are aged 21 or over when they register as civil partners:-
• a former civil partner of the person’s child (but only if the child and the child’s other parent is dead)
• a former spouse of the person’s child (but only if the child and the child’s other parent is dead)
• a parent of a former civil partner (but only if the former civil partner and the former civil partner’s other parent is dead)
• a parent of a former spouse (but only if the former spouse and the former spouse’s other parent is dead).
Are there any age restrictions?
Yes. In the same way as marriage you cannot form a civil partnership until you are 16 and between then and your 18th birthday you will need the permission of your parents, guardian, or anybody that has parental responsibility for you.
Where can we register a civil partnership
As civil partnerships are similar to civil marriages they have to take place in the same kinds of places as a civil marriage i.e. a registry office or a building licensed for marriage ceremonies. As things stand at the moment you can’t tie the knot at home, in your favourite garden or on top of a mountain. Because these are civil partnerships and not marriages you cannot have the actual civil partnership signing in a church or other religious building. However, depending on your religion, and the attitude of the local clergy, you may be able to have a religious service to bless your partnership.
The General Register Office’s website has a search facility for finding approved premises anywhere in England and Wales. The website address is www.gro.gov.uk. Alternatively, a local authority will have information on approved premises in its area.
How do we register?
A couple must give notice to the local register office, even if they intend to register elsewhere. They can only do this once they have lived in the area for at least seven days. Each of them must give this notice in person. The notice must include where the couple wish the civil partnership registration to take place. The notice must also include a written declaration stating the following:-
• that s/he believes that there is no legal reason why the civil partnership cannot be formed
• that the proposed civil partners have lived for the preceding seven days in the local register office’s area or in the area of the register office to which they are giving notice.
The local register office may ask for supporting evidence when the members of the couple give the required notice. This may include evidence of either person’s name, age, nationality and details of any previous civil partnership or marriage. The register office can advise on what documents are needed.
If one partner is subject to immigration control, there are additional requirements.
Once you have given your notices, the register office must keep information relating to the notices on public display for 15 days. This should be in both the area in which the registration is to take place and in the area in which both partners live. Your addresses will not appear on the notice for reasons of privacy. The registration cannot happen until the 15-day waiting period has passed for each of the notices. This is to allow any person to make an objection to a civil partnership in a similar way to an objection to a marriage.
Then What Happens
Once the 15-day waiting period has expired, if there are no objections to the registration of the civil partnership and no legal reasons why it cannot go ahead, the register office must provide the couple with a legal document called a civil partnership schedule. The couple will need this in order to register a civil partnership.
Registration process
A civil partnership is formed either when a couple have completed a formal registration process or when they are treated as having formed a civil partnership by virtue of having registered an overseas relationship.
Once the 15-day period has expired, if no valid objections have been made, the proposed civil partners are free to register a civil partnership within twelve months of the first notice being recorded. If they do not do this within this time limit, they cannot register without starting the process again.
There are some circumstances where a civil partnership may be formed sooner than 15 days after giving notice, for example, where one of the partners is seriously ill and not expected to recover.
Two people are regarded as having registered a civil partnership once each of them has signed the civil partnership schedule or licence in front of two witnesses and the civil partnership registrar. The witnesses and registrar must also sign the civil partnership document.
A couple can get a civil partnership certificate when they register, although they must pay a fee for this. They can get further copies later if they wish.
There is no requirement to have any form of ceremony as part of the registration procedure, although a couple are free to arrange this if they so wish. However, no religious service is allowed at the signing of the civil partnership document.
What happens if things go wrong with the relationship?
As with marriage it is not possible to dissolve a civil partnership without going through a legal process similar to divorce or annulment.
If a same-sex couple end a civil partnership, it means they no longer have a legally recognised relationship. It is similar to divorce for a married couple. A civil partnership can only end in one of the four following ways:-
• dissolution because the partnership has broken down irretrievably
• separation order
• annulment
• death of one of the civil partners.
For more information about civil partnerships you might want to have a look at the following websites or contact us at askcab
Women and Equality unit
DWP
General Registrars Office
Disclaimer,
Target Audience,
Jurisdiction
Last updated & checked:
30/03/2006