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Fri 10th September, 2010
News
The Civil Partnership Act 2004 |
30th November 2005 |
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The Civil Partnership Act 2004 will come into force on 5th December 2005 introducing, in England and Wales, a radical form of legally binding civil partnership registration for same-sex couples aged 16 or over. Essentially, this will enable same-sex couples to register the fact of their relationship or ‘civil partnership’ as a concept tantamount to civil marriage as between opposite-sex couples.
A new framework will govern the registration process which will be virtually identical to registry office marriages. Civil partners will also be able to take their partner’s names accordingly and they will be free to arrange a ceremony to celebrate their partnership, much like arrangements for the conventional marriage, the only prohibition being the bar on conducting religious ceremonies.
Significantly, the law will provide legal rights and responsibilities for civil partners, like those which are available to married couples, relating to property, care and provision for children of the family, financial provision and inheritance – matters common to the everyday matrimonial or divorce lawyer.
A Court procedure will govern the dissolution or nullity of a civil partnership. This procedure is strikingly comparable to that used in divorce between heterosexual couples and uses the same legal concept known as the ‘irretrievable breakdown’ in the relationship which must be satisfied in order to justify the dissolution. Curiously, this can only be proved in four ways (as opposed to five in divorce proceedings). It can only be assumed that this is a careless omission on the part of the draftsmen or an instance of legislators turning a blind eye by not incorporating an avenue, as there is in divorce, for dissolution based on adultery.
Today we live in a fast changing culture, where marriage is becoming less attractive with people choosing to cohabit instead, and where statistics show an ever increasing rate of divorce, the time may soon be approaching to reassess society’s common values in respect of marriage and to consider new legislation that governs the union of lives as between cohabitees and spouses to reflect the changing trends in modern day relationships. Conceivably, in a not too distant future, couples wishing to commit to one another through marriage, cohabitation or civil partnership may be required to fulfil specific criteria to justify their eligibility to have their relationship legally recognised.
Written by Daniel Sanders
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