HENRY
LEES ¨ SOLICITORS
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GENERAL
INFORMATION ABOUT CIVIL PARTNERSHIP 1. What is civil
partnership?
Civil
Partnership is a legal relationship, which can be formed by two people of the
same sex. It gives same sex couples the ability to obtain legal recognition for
their relationship. Couples who form a civil partnership will have a
new legal status – that of “civil partner”. Same-sex
couples who form a civil partnership have parity of treatment in a wide range of
legal matters with those opposite-sex couples who enter into a civil marriage. The
rights and responsibilities civil partners include: ·
A duty to
provide reasonable maintenance for your civil partner and any children of the
family; ·
Ability to
apply for parental responsibility for your civil partner’s child; ·
Equitable
treatment for the purposes of assessment for child support; life assurance; tax,
including inheritance tax; employment and pension benefits; inheritance of a
tenancy agreement; ·
Recognition
under intestacy rules; ·
Access to
fatal accidents compensation; ·
Protection
from domestic violence; and ·
Recognition
for immigration and nationality purposes. The Act came into
force on 5 December 2005.
To
see the Act go to: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2004/ukpga_20040033_en_1.
2. How does civil
partnership differ from marriage?
Civil
Partnership is a completely new legal relationship, exclusively for same-sex
couples, distinct from marriage. The
Government has sought to give civil partners parity of treatment with spouses,
as far as is possible, in the rights and responsibilities that flow from forming
a civil partnership. There
are a small number of differences between civil partnership and marriage, for
example, a civil partnership is formed when the second civil partner signs the
relevant document, and a civil marriage is formed when the couple exchange
spoken words. Opposite-sex couples can opt for a religious or civil
marriage ceremony as they choose, whereas formation of a civil partnership will
be an exclusively civil procedure. 3. Who is eligible?
The
couple must be of the same sex, not already be in a civil partnership or
marriage, be 16 years of age or older, and not be within the prohibited degrees
of relationship (i.e. related). In
England and Wales and Northern Ireland, individuals who are aged 16 and 17 will
have to obtain the written consent of their parent(s) or legal guardian(s)
before registering a civil partnership. In Scotland individuals aged 16 or
over will be able to register their partnership without the need for parental
consent. This is also the rule, in Scotland, for opposite-sex couples who
marry). The
prohibited degrees of relationship can be found in Schedule 1 to the Civil
Partnership Act for England and Wales, Schedule 10 for Scotland and Schedule 12
for Northern Ireland. These Schedules list the people who, due to the
closeness of their relationship with each other, are prohibited from registering
a civil partnership with each other or, in certain cases, who are prohibited
from registering a civil partnership with each other unless certain conditions
are met. 4.
REGISTERING A CIVIL PARTNERSHIP AND DISSOLUTION
The
range of places you can register your civil partnership is broadly similar to
those available for civil marriage. Every
local authority is required to provide a facility for the registration of a
civil partnership. It is also possible to register a civil partnership at a
venue elsewhere, for example at a hotel. Any premises that are approved for
marriage were deemed to also be approved for the purposes of civil partnership
registrations. 5.
What formal requirements have to be met before registration can take place?
You
and your partner will need to each give notice in the area(s) where you have
resided for at least seven days. When you give notice, you will be asked to
state where you wish the civil partnership registration to take place If
a civil partnership is to be registered outside of the area of residence, you
and your partner will still need to give notice in the area(s) where you live.
When you each give notice, you will be asked to give the date and place where
the civil partnership registration is to take place so these details will need
to have been first agreed with the local authority where the registration is
going to take place. Example:
If
you live in Shrewsbury and your partner lives in Chester, but you want to
register a civil partnership in a country house hotel in Staffordshire, you will
have to give notice to your local register office in Shrewsbury and your partner
at Chester register office. When you give this notice, you will both have to be
able to give the date and the place where the civil partnership is to be
registered, which means that you will have to have arranged this already with
the venue and the Staffordshire registration authority. 6.
What is the waiting period for civil partnership? There
is a 15-day waiting period once each person has given notice of intention to
register, before the civil partnership can be registered. The 15-day waiting
period can be reduced in exceptional circumstances where there are compelling
reasons to do so. It
is possible for a civil partnership to be registered at the residence of someone
who is housebound, detained or seriously ill and not expected to recover. There
are procedures to allow couples to form a civil partnership quickly in the cases
of former spouses, one of whom has changed gender under the provisions of the
Gender Recognition Act 2004. 7.
What time of day can a civil partnership be registered? Civil
partnerships can only be registered between 8am and 6pm (as is the case for
marriage). However, where one of the couple is seriously ill and not expected to
recover, then the civil partnership may be formed at any time. 8.
What information will be made public about my civil partnership? When
you give notice of your intention to register a civil partnership, details from
the notice will be available in a register office for public inspection (as for
marriage) but the details will not include the address of you or your partner. It
is important that these details are publicly available during the 15 day waiting
period, to allow for objections to be made, just as is the case for marriage. 9.
What happens at a civil partnership registration? A
civil partnership is registered once the couple have signed the civil
partnership document in the presence of a registrar and two witnesses. Civil
partnership registration is an entirely secular process, and the Civil
Partnership Act prevents any religious service from taking place during the
statutory steps leading to the formation of a civil partnership. You can arrange a ceremony in addition to the signing
of the legal documentation if you wish, but a ceremony is not required under the
Act. It is up to you to decide. Local authorities might offer a ceremony
but there are other organisations who also offer ceremonies too. 10.
What will the whole process cost? There
are fees charged for giving notice and for the civil partnership registration
itself when this takes place on premises made available by a registration
authority. Local
authorities set their own fees for civil partnerships which take place at
approved premises. 11.
Can I use Welsh?
Yes,
all forms used in Wales in connection with civil partnerships will be printed in
Welsh and English. It will be possible for these forms to be completed in
English or in Welsh as for marriage. 12.
Can we change our names after registering a civil partnership? After
registering a civil partnership, some people might want to change their surname
to that of their partner’s, or a couple may choose to hyphenate their names.
Government departments and agencies such as the Passport Agency and the DVLA
accept civil partnership certificates in the same way that they accept marriage
certificates as evidence for changing names. 13.
DISSOLVING A CIVIL PARTNERSHIP How
will dissolution proceedings work? Registering
as civil partners is a serious commitment, because a civil partnership ends only
on formal dissolution or annulment, or on the death of one of the parties.
The
process for dissolution is court-based. The person applying for the
partnership to be dissolved will have to provide evidence that the civil
partnership has broken down irretrievably. The
dissolution process begins with an application to the court in the form required
by the court rules for civil partnership proceedings. In
order to prove irretrievable breakdown it will be necessary to provide evidence
of one or more of the following facts to support the application for
dissolution: ·
Unreasonable
behaviour, that is behaviour such that the applicant cannot reasonably be
expected to live with their civil partner: ·
Separation
for two years, where the other civil partner consents to a dissolution order
being made; ·
Separation
for five years, where the other civil partner does not consent to a dissolution
order being made; ·
That the
other civil partner has deserted the applicant for a period of two years prior
to the application. The
court will be required to inquire as far as is possible into the facts alleged
by the applicant and into any facts alleged by their civil partner. If the
court is satisfied on the evidence that the civil partnership has broken down
irretrievably, a dissolution order can be granted. 14.
TREATMENT OF OVERSEAS RELATIONSHIPS Will
the UK recognise partnership schemes for same-sex couples that exist across
Europe and beyond? Same-sex
couples who form certain "overseas relationships", that is certain
legal relationships registered under the law of another country or territory,
are automatically treated as having formed a civil partnership and will not need
to register in the UK as well, so long as they and their overseas relationship
meets the requirements set out in the Civil Partnership Act. These
include requirements that the overseas relationship is either (a) one of the
specified relationships listed in Schedule 20 to the Act, or (b) a relationship
that meets the "general conditions" contained in section 214. In
order for an overseas relationship to meet the general conditions it must, under
the law of the country or territory in which it was formed,
i.
be exclusive in nature (in other words the law must prevent a person from
registering a relationship where they are already in a relationship of that kind
or are lawfully married);
ii.
be indeterminate in duration (this would exclude an arrangement whereby
the parties agreed to live together for a fixed period of time); and iii.
result in the parties being treated as a couple or treated as married
(this would exclude schemes like some local registers which have no legal
effects under the law of that country or territory). Where
two people have registered an overseas relationship which is specified in
Schedule 20 or meets these general conditions, they will be treated as having
formed a civil partnership if they meet the other requirements which can be
found in section 212 and sections 215 to 218 of the Act. 15.
Can my partner and I form a civil partnership in the UK even if we’ve already
formed an overseas relationship that would be recognised in the UK? It
will not be necessary to form a civil partnership in the UK if your existing
overseas relationship is treated as a civil partnership. 16.
IMMIGRATION If
you have questions about immigration matters please contact the Immigration and
Nationality Bureau on 0870 606 7766 or visit the immigration and Nationality
Directorate (IND) website at www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk. 17.
Can my partner and I register as civil partners even if he or she isn’t a UK
or EEA citizen? There
are restrictions where either of the proposed civil partners is subject to UK
immigration control. A person will be subject to immigration control if
they are not an EEA national and they require permission to enter or remain in
the UK. EEA
means European Economic Area and for this purpose it includes Swiss nationals. The
civil partnership provisions for persons subject to immigration control are
exactly the same as those already in place for spouses. People subject to
immigration control who wish to give notice of a civil partnership will need to
do so at a Register Office designated for that purpose. A list of these
offices is on the IND website –
www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk
When
they give notice, they will be required to produce one of the following: ·
entry
clearance granted to form a civil partnership; ·
a Home
Office certificate of approval; ·
indefinite
leave to remain in the UK. Registrars
are required to report any civil partnerships to the Immigration Service if they
have suspicions that it is being entered into as a means of circumventing
immigration control. 18.
What is entry clearance and how would I go about applying for it? Entry
clearance is the granting of permission to enter the UK by an Entry Clearance
Officer in the British Embassy or High Commission in the country where you are
normally and legally resident. It will usually be shown as a visa in the
person's passport or travel document. It may also be possible to apply from a
country where you are only temporarily resident. To find out where your
nearest UK Overseas mission is and for more information about Visa Applications
visit the UK Visas website at: www.ukvisas.gov.uk
19.
Where can I get a Certificate of Approval from? A
certificate of approval can be obtained from the Immigration and Nationality
Directorate. This is usually only issued where the person has been granted leave
to enter or remain for over six months from the date on which they entered the
UK and where three months of that leave is still in force. The certificate of
approval will have to be surrendered to the registrar when notice is given. 20.
What immigration rights will my non-EU citizen partner have if we form a civil
partnership? Under
the Civil Partnership Act, couples who register a civil partnership have similar
immigration rights to married couples. This will mean that the non-EEA
civil partner of a British Citizen or person settled here will be able to apply
for two years’ leave to enter or remain in the UK. If the civil
partnership is still subsisting at the end of this period then an application
for indefinite leave to remain may be made. For
Requirements for naturalisation if you are married to or the civil partner of a
British citizen, see the following
link:
21.
What about work permit or student visa holders? Civil
partners of people with temporary leave in the UK, such as students and work
permit holders are free to apply for leave in line with their civil partners.
For example where the principal work permit holder has two years leave to remain
in the UK their civil partner will also be granted two years leave in line.
Should the principal work permit holder apply for indefinite leave to remain it
will be open to their civil partner to also apply as a dependant. 22. TAX,
PENSIONS AND WORKPLACE BENEFITS Will
I have equal survivor pension rights as a civil partner, i.e. the same as for
widowers? Civil
partners will be able to accrue survivor pensions in public service schemes and
contracted-out pension schemes from 1988. Pension
schemes provide survivor benefits for civil partners on the basis of deceased
members' rights accrued from 6 April 1988, to treat them on a par with widowers.
23.
What about tax? Civil
partners are treated the same as married couples for tax purposes and this was
set out in Section 103 of the Finance Act 2005. For
more information regarding issues raised on Civil Partnerships then please Telephone
01948 663361 and speak to
Stewart Mills or David M. Ryder or
e mail stewart.mills@henrylees.co.uk
HENRY
LEES SOLICITORS LLP 45,
Green End Whitchurch Shropshire |
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Henry Lees Solicitors LLP
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