civil partnerships

Ending a Civil Partnership or a Marriage: What are the Differences?
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Ending a Civil Partnership or a Marriage: What are the Differences?

Published on
Alexandra Bishop
Alexandra Bishop
Senior Associate
Kingsley Napley

Civil partnerships were first introduced in the Civil Partnership Act 2004 as a way for same sex couples to have their relationships legally recognised. Since 2019 couples irrespective of sex have been able enter into a civil partnership.

There are no real differences when ending a civil partnership or a marriage, or at least there are very few variations. This seems right given the context in which civil partnerships and same sex marriage came into play – to ensure the equal treatment for men and women regardless of sexual orientation to enter into a legally recognised partnership. This same equality and non-discrimination is reflected in the legal process to end a civil partnership or a marriage and the same legal and financial protection is given to couples when a marriage or civil partnership comes to an end.

Disappointingly, the law that protects those in legally recognised relationships is currently still lacking when it comes to protection for cohabiting couples where there is only a limited ability to make financial claims. As such there is a very real difference between ending a civil partnership or a marriage and ending a relationship that is not legally recognised.

Terminology

In England and Wales, aside from a difference in terminology (if you want to end a civil partnership you apply for a dissolution and if you want to end your marriage you apply for a divorce), the rules and the process for dissolution and divorce are the same.

If parties who are married or have entered into a civil partnership in England are seeking to divorce abroad, however, it is important to take specific advice in that jurisdiction. Whilst opposite sex marriage formed in England and Wales is recognised worldwide, civil partnerships and same sex marriages are recognised in some countries but certainly not all. It will very much depend on the jurisdiction where a couple intends to divorce as to whether that country recognises a civil partnership and as to the rights such couples might have under local law, regardless of the clear position in England.

The process for obtaining a divorce or dissolution

Since the introduction of “no fault” divorce on 6 April 2022 when The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 came into effect, the person applying for a divorce or dissolution only has to confirm within the divorce application that the marriage or partnership has broken down irretrievably and no supporting facts or evidence are required. This welcome change has allowed couples to end their marriages jointly and has removed the need for either party to blame the other for the breakdown of the relationship.

The process now takes place online via a court portal. If both parties agree to a divorce or dissolution then a joint application can be made. Alternatively, if just one party agrees to a divorce or dissolution then a sole application would be made. However, parties can only make the application once they have been married or in a civil partnership for over a year. The next stage of the divorce or dissolution is the application for a conditional order (the first stage of divorce and dissolution) which can be made 20 weeks after the application was issued. Once the conditional order has been pronounced there is a minimum timescale of six weeks and one day before the applicant can apply for a final order (for married couples) and a dissolution order (for couples in a civil partnership), which legally ends a marriage or partnership.

There is a very slight difference in the grounds required to annul a marriage compared to a civil partnership. Annulment is a different way of ending a marriage or civil partnership. Unlike divorce, either party can apply for an annulment in the first year of marriage or a civil partnership, although there needs to be very specific reasons for this. Annulment is very unusual. One of the grounds to be able to annul an opposite sex marriage is that a marriage has not been consummated since the wedding, although this does not apply to same sex marriage or civil partnership. Another reason a married couple could annul is because the respondent had a sexually transmitted disease when they married and the applicant was unaware of it at the time. Again this is not a valid reason to annul a civil partnership. 

Resolving the finances upon a divorce or dissolution

Married couples and couples in a civil partnership have the same financial claims upon a divorce or dissolution under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 and the Civil Partnership Act 2004.  There is no difference in the application of the law in determining a fair and reasonable financial settlement upon a divorce or dissolution. In the context of these financial proceedings, the court has the powers to make the following financial orders: property adjustment orders (transferring properties between spouses or civil partners or a sale of the assets), lump sum orders, pension orders (sharing a pension with your spouse or civil partner) and periodical payments (payments made from one spouse or civil partner to the other to provide income support).

Although the nature of civil partnerships and marriages in terms of their meaning and historical context are very different and couples may have strong reasons for choosing marriage over a civil partnership or vice versa, the legal protections afforded to these couples and the process for ending these relationships are essentially the same.

Read more articles by Kingsley Napley LLP.

About Alexandra Bishop

Alexandra is a Senior Associate in the Family and Divorce team at Kingsley Napley, with experience of all types of private family law work relating to both finances and children.

Alexandra offers practical and realistic advice and provides excellent care for her clients, working through technical legal problems pro-actively to achieve the best possible result.  She has been recognised for her work in Legal 500 2019, one of the leading legal directories in the UK.

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Marriage or Civil Partnership

Marriage or Civil Partnership? What’s the Difference?

Published on
Katie McCann
Katie McCann
Head of Family Law and in-house counsel at Kuits Solicitors

Head of Family at Kuits, Katie McCann, comments on the recent news that a heterosexual couple have lost their Court of Appeal battle to enter into a civil partnership.

This week, Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan lost their battle to legalise civil partnerships for heterosexual couples in the Court of Appeal.

The couple challenged a previous High Court ruling that was made last year, stating that they could not have a civil partnership because The Civil Partnership Act 2004 demands that they be of the same sex, which they argued was discriminatory.

Many people have since asked me why this couple would bother – if they have the option of just getting married, why would they enter into a stressful and costly litigation situation?

Let’s lift the bonnet on this for a moment. What are the real differences between marriage and civil partnerships?

Well, in a civil partnership, you cannot say you are ‘married’ – no actual ceremony needs to take place (save the signing of a formal document, although most couples do add some ceremonial aspect to their day); there can be no religion involved; and, interestingly, the certificate includes the names of both partner’s parents (instead of just fathers, like on marriage certificates).

Furthermore, adultery cannot be used as a ground for a dissolution (its dissolution in a civil partnership not divorce).

However, when it comes to how finances are dealt with and the law that surrounds that, then the provisions are almost identical to those when dealing with a financial application upon divorce.

Civil partnerships were initially brought about to give same-sex couples the option of legalising their relationship along the lines of marriage, before the law allowed them to marry.

As such, some argue that civil partnerships are just a hangover from the time before lawmakers felt comfortable enough to take the final step to true equality by making marriage available to all – a half-way house before real equality was achieved.

Arguing to allow access to civil partnerships to heterosexual couples is seen by those of this view to be flipping back in time.

On the other hand, there is a case to be heard that the couple’s human rights are being potentially being interfered with, as same-sex couples now have more options than heterosexual couples, which doesn’t exactly lend itself to equality.

In my opinion, the government really should be thinking about cleaning up the legislative landscape. They might, for example, decide to get rid of civil partnerships all together, or make them available to all.

If you would like to discuss any of the issues raised in this article, please call our Family team on 0161 832 3434.

About Katie

Katie McCann is head of family law and in-house counsel at Kuits Solicitors in Manchester City Centre. She has a special interest in resolving high value relationship breakdown disputes.

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Isle of Man Heterosexual Civil Partnerships not Recognised by UK Law

Published on
Kerry Smith
Kerry Smith
Head of Family Law
at K J Smith

The Isle of Man has become the only place in the British Isles to allow heterosexual couples to enter into civil partnerships.

However, the situation is not entirely a straightforward one, with the UK saying that it will refuse to recognise civil partnerships registered between opposite-sex partners on the Isle of Man.

Since marriage was legalised for same-sex couples, the UK has been left with a situation where same-sex partners can enter into either a marriage or a civil partnership while opposite-sex couples can only enter into a marriage.

To some, this situation has made sense, as civil partnerships were originally conceived as a way to give homosexual couples the rights of marriage at a time when they still could not enter into a “full” marriage.

However, some heterosexual couples have expressed a wish to enter into a legally-recognised partnership without the cultural baggage of a marriage, and others have perceived an imbalance in the current system.

As such, there have been some calls to allow civil partnerships for opposite-sex partners. So far, however, the Isle of Man (which is not part of the UK) is the only part of the British Isles to recognise such partnerships.

The Isle of Man first started allowing opposite-sex civil partnerships this summer.

On 22nd July, the island implemented the Marriage and Civil Partnership Act 2016, which allowed same-sex couples to marry on the island as they can in the UK and also enabled heterosexual couples to enter into civil partnerships.

It was expected that this would place the rest of the country under pressure to follow suit, such as LGBT rights advocate Peter Tatchell who said that people would “wonder if the Isle of Man can have equal civil partnerships for opposite sex couples why not England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Island.”

Tatchell also said that, if heterosexual couples travelled to the Isle of Man in order to enter into such a partnership, this would place the UK in a position of having to decide whether those partnerships would be legally recognised.

The Isle of Man officials said at the time that they expected opposite-sex civil partnerships registered on the island to be recognised throughout the country in the same way as traditional marriages.

The UK, however, has since reached a decision that it does not intend to recognise these unions.

In October, the question was raised in earnest when a London couple, consisting of opposite-sex partners, did indeed travel to the Isle of Man specifically to enter into a civil partnership.

In a statement to parliament intended to resolve the matter, Caroline Dinenage, Equalities Minister, reiterated that “The 2004 Civil Partnership Act created civil partnerships for same sex couples only.”

She went on to say: “As opposite sex couples cannot lawfully register a civil partnership here, the Act provides that couples registering a relationship overseas are not to be treated as having formed a civil partnership if, at the time the relationship was formed, they were not of the same sex.”

About Kerry

Kerry Smith is the head of family law at K J Smith Solicitors, a specialist family law firm who deal with a wide range of issues including divorce, domestic violence, civil partnerships and prenuptial agreements.

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Same Sex Marriage vs Civil Partnership

Same Sex Marriage vs Civil Partnership Registrations – What has Changed?

Published on
Kerry Smith
Kerry Smith
Head of Family Law
at K J Smith

Marriage became legal for same-sex couples in March 2014, but civil partnerships, generally seen as a substitute for marriage, remained an option as well.

Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics have shown exactly what the effect of same-sex marriage has been on the number of couples opting for civil partnerships.

Registrations for civil partnerships were cut almost in half following the legalisation of same-sex marriage. There were 1,683 such registrations in 2014, the year same sex marriages were introduced, but only 861 in 2015, a drop of 49%.

Compared to 2013, before same sex marriages had become legal in the UK, the difference is even more pronounced. Since then, the number of registrations for civil partnerships is down by 85%.

Interestingly, there have also been changes to the kinds of people who are registering for civil partnerships over the same time period.

For example, there has been a shift towards older people choosing to register for civil partnerships since marriage became an option for same-sex couples.

In 2013 the average age of a man entering a civil partnership was 40.8, and for a woman it was 37.9. In 2015, these figures had risen to 48.5 for men and 49.1 for women. While in 2013 just 19% of those entering civil partnerships were aged 50 or above, in 2015 couples over 50 accounted for 48% of new civil partnerships.

Men seem to have a greater tendency than women to continue to choose civil partnerships over marriage.

2015 saw the highest proportion of male civil partnerships since the year of their introduction in 2005.

Initially, men were more prevalent in the formation of civil partnerships but the split between men and women later evened out to fluctuate each side of the 50/50 mark. In 2015, however, men became decidedly the larger group of new civil partners and accounted for two thirds of all civil partnerships formed.

Women, on the other hand, more readily took up the opportunity to marry same-sex partners. Between the introduction of same-sex marriage in March 2014 and June of the following year, female couples accounted for the majority of marriages between partners of the same sex.

As civil partnerships are often seen as a substitute for marriage aimed at same sex couples, many have questioned whether this kind of union has a future now that such couples are able to simply get married.

Couples who were already in civil partnerships have the right to convert their existing legal union into a marriage, and many have chosen to do so. Furthermore, the data shows that couples are largely and increasingly choosing marriage over a civil partnership now they have the option, and there is little expectation that this trend will do anything but continue.

There are, however, opposite-sex couples campaigning for civil partnerships to be opened up to them, as currently these kinds of unions are only open to same-sex couples.

Some opposite-sex partner’s feel for various reasons, such as objections to the cultural and ideological baggage associated with marriage, that they would like access to an alternative that is more along the lines of civil partnerships.

If civil partnerships do continue to exist in years to come, this may be the purpose that they serve.

About Kerry

Kerry Smith is the head of family law at K J Smith Solicitors, a specialist family law firm who deal with a wide range of issues including divorce, domestic violence, civil partnerships and prenuptial agreements.

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same sex marriage

Same Sex Marriage Bill – A Level Playing Field?

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Same Sex Marriage
Rachel Donald from Charles Russell LLP

The first Same Sex Marriage is expected to take place next month.

The Marriage Bill (Same Sex Couples) legislation, which had previously divided opinion in government, was far from controversial when Parliament granted Royal Assent last summer.

The unanimous approval of the Bill by peers in Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat seats has resulted in wedding plans in readiness for the first legal same sex marriage, which has been long awaited for many gay couples.

The Bill has been introduced as a result of a rising awareness for the need to equalise the legal status of gay couples, which historically could impact on the financial claims available in the event of their relationship breaking down.

This Bill has finally arrived almost a decade later that the first Civil Partnership, which took place in December 2005 following the introduction of the Civil Partnership Act 2004.

This Act had aimed to place gay couples on an equal “legal” footing providing similar financial provisions to Civil Partners upon separation as those available to heterosexual married couples.

Previously same sex couples had been reliant on property and trust law to seek financial remedies after a split. This legislation was welcomed, but it was acknowledged it did not go far enough.

The Same Sex Marriage Bill takes a fundamental leap forward in confirming same sex marriages will have the exact same legal standing as a heterosexual marriage, save for  relying upon adultery when getting divorced.

The legalisation means that gay couples can now marry in a Church (if they wish to do so) if that denomination has “opted in” to facilitate a wedding. Same Sex MarriageHowever, the legislation excludes the Church of England from having the ability to opt in.

It also means that gay couples will be able to seek financial support from their spouse under the same legislation as heterosexual couples.

The Same Sex Marriage Bill means that the Government will need to review the existing legislation for Civil Partners, which will now become somewhat redundant.

There are currently over 100,000 Civil Partners living in the UK. Civil Partners will have the option to convert their partnership to a marriage, if they wish to do so.

Gay marriages will enable same sex couples to receive equal pension and state benefits to heterosexual married couples: a welcomed development for many gay couples who have missed out on benefits available to heterosexual married couples.

This legislation brings England and Wales in line with many other jurisdictions that are recognising the importance of equal rights to same sex couples not from a legal position.

This week has also seen recognition in the Scottish Jurisdiction for a similar act to be introduced in Scotland.

It will also equalise the social and economic benefits for gay couples. In that respect the Same Sex Marriage Bill goes much further than the Civil Partnership Act, which provided gay couples with an alternative to marriage, rather than equal standing to heterosexual married couples.

About Rachel

Rachel is a Senior Associate in the Family Law Service at the city law firm Charles Russell LLP, based in the firm’s Guildford Office.

Charles Russell’s family team is within the magic circle of family lawyers and advise on domestic and international family law. Rachel specialises exclusively in family law and advises on all matters including divorce, civil partnership dissolution, pre-nuptial agreements, cohabitation and matters involving children.

Rachel has particular experience with high net worth financial cases, enforcement of matrimonial orders, cross jurisdictional maintenance disputes and appeals against the Child Maintenance Service.

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