Introduction

The pre-registration procedure followed by prospective civil partners will depend on their particular circumstances. Most will follow what the Act describes as the standard procedure, but the Act also caters for persons who are house-bound, for detained persons and there is also a special procedure for cases where one or both of the prospective civil partners is seriously ill and not expected to recover. Moreover, all the procedures (except for the special procedure) are subject to modification where one of the partners is a non-resident (see 3.5 for who is regarded as a non-resident) or is a former spouse who has changed sex. The procedure will also be different in those cases where there are issues of prohibited degrees of relationship and where one of the proposed civil partners is under eighteen. Finally, there are special procedural considerations in the case of a prospective civil partner who is subject to immigration control.

Standard pre-registration procedure

Giving notice

Each of the would-be civil partners must give notice of the proposed civil partnership to a registration authority and must also have resided in England and Wales for at least seven days immediately before giving the notice (s.8(1)).

Registration authority In relation to England ‘registration authority’ means a county council, the council of any district comprised in an area for which there is no county council, a London borough council, the Common Council of the City of London or the Council of the Isles of Scilly (s.28(a)) and in relation to Wales, a county council or county borough council (s.28(b)).