Civil Partnership Act 2004 The Civil Partnership Act 2004 came into force on 5th December 2005, enabling same-sex couples to obtain legal recognition of their relationship and creating a new legal status of “civil partner”. Civil partners have equality of treatment in a wide range of legal matters as those of opposite-sex couples who enter into a civil marriage which, amongst other benefits includes a duty to provide reasonable maintenance for your civil partner and any children of the family and equitable treatment for the purposes of assessment for child support; life assurance; tax, including inheritance tax; employment and pension benefits and inheritance of a tenancy agreement. Therefore, just the same as any marriage, registering as civil partners is a serious commitment and can only be ended on formal dissolution, annulment, separation or on the death of one of the parties. Dissolution As is the case in divorce proceedings – you cannot start a petition for dissolution unless you have been in a civil partnership for more than one year. The dissolution process will begin with an application to the court by either civil partner on the ground that the civil partnership has broken down irretrievably. The court must only grant an order that the civil partnership has broken down irretrievably if the applicant provides 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 the dissolution order being made; Desertion – where one civil partner has deserted the applicant for a period of two years prior to the application. Although you are prohibited from applying to dissolve the civil partnership within the first year of the union, nothing prevents the making of an application based on matters which occurred before the end of the one year period. The court will be required to enquire as far as 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 then be granted. Nullity The one year rule will not apply to applications made for a civil partnership to be dissolved under the following grounds of nullity:- A civil partnership will be void if the parties are not eligible to register as civil partners of each other, meaning; they are not of the same sex; either of them is already a civil partner or lawfully married; either of them is under 16; they are within prohibited degrees of relationship, i.e., brothers, sisters etc.; due notice of civil partnership has not been given; the civil partnership document has not been duly issued; the place of registration is a place other than that specified in the notice of proposed civil partnership; a civil partnership registrar is not present Where two people register as civil partners of each other, the civil partnership is voidable if; either civil partner did not validly consent to its formation (whether as a result of duress, mistake, unsoundness of mind or otherwise) at the time of the formation either civil partner, though capable of giving consent, was suffering (whether continuously or intermittently) from mental disorder of such a kind or to such an extent as to be unfitted for civil partnership; at the time of its formation, the respondent was pregnant by some person other than the applicant (!); an interim gender recognition certificate under the Gender Recognition Act 2004 has, after the time of its formation, been issued to the civil partner; the respondent is a person whose gender at the time of its formation had become the acquired gender under the 2004 Act. An application for a separation order may be made to the court by either civil partner; on the ground that any such fact as is mentioned above exists; on an application for a separation order the court must inquire so far as it reasonably can into the facts alleged by the applicant and respondent, but whether the civil partnership has broken down irretrievably is irrelevant. Contact us For more information regarding dissolution of civil partnerships or in general, please call Chris Phillips or Jamie Krisman on 020 7841 0123 for a free initial half hour consultation or alternatively you can email us on hello@haynesphillips.com