Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Table of cases
- Table of statutes
- 1 Introduction to the Act
- 2 What is a civil partnership? Formation by registration in England and Wales: eligibility
- 3 Pre-registration procedure: standard procedure; house-bound and detained partners; certain non-residents and other special cases
- 4 Registration in England and Wales – the standard procedure; the special procedure
- 5 Registration outside the UK by Order in Council
- 6 Overseas relationships treated as civil partnerships
- 7 Financial and property implications of civil partnership
- 8 Children
- 9 Relationship between the Civil Partnership Act and the Gender Recognition Act
- 10 The ending of the partnership: orders for dissolution
- 11 Nullity and other proceedings
- 12 Offences
- 13 Domestic violence and occupation of the home
- 14 Financial consequences on breakdown
- 15 Financial relief in England and Wales after an overseas dissolution
- 16 Miscellaneous
- Appendix Civil Partnership Act 2004 – extracts
- Index
2 - What is a civil partnership? Formation by registration in England and Wales: eligibility
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Table of cases
- Table of statutes
- 1 Introduction to the Act
- 2 What is a civil partnership? Formation by registration in England and Wales: eligibility
- 3 Pre-registration procedure: standard procedure; house-bound and detained partners; certain non-residents and other special cases
- 4 Registration in England and Wales – the standard procedure; the special procedure
- 5 Registration outside the UK by Order in Council
- 6 Overseas relationships treated as civil partnerships
- 7 Financial and property implications of civil partnership
- 8 Children
- 9 Relationship between the Civil Partnership Act and the Gender Recognition Act
- 10 The ending of the partnership: orders for dissolution
- 11 Nullity and other proceedings
- 12 Offences
- 13 Domestic violence and occupation of the home
- 14 Financial consequences on breakdown
- 15 Financial relief in England and Wales after an overseas dissolution
- 16 Miscellaneous
- Appendix Civil Partnership Act 2004 – extracts
- Index
Summary
Introduction
In essence, a civil partnership is a legal relationship between two people of the same sex, which can be created, or formed, in either of two ways. The first method is by registration of the civil partnership either in the United Kingdom, or under what is termed an Order in Council, which allows for registration at British Consulates or by armed forces personnel. The second method is where the couple register an ‘overseas relationship’ (as defined in the Act) which is treated under the Act as a civil partnership. Once formed, the civil partnership, however created, subsists until it is ended by death, dissolution or annulment (s.1(3)).
In England and Wales the chief method whereby a civil partnership will be formed or created, namely by registration, is achieved by the prospective civil partners signing a document issued to them by an authority created under the Act called the registration authority. The signing has to be attended by certain formalities, and before it is issued the partners have to comply with the pre-registration procedure, the steps of which differ according to the particular circumstances of the prospective partners. This chapter will deal chiefly with eligibility. In the next chapter we will deal with the pre-registration procedure in relation to the method that most English and Welsh practitioners are likely to encounter, namely by registration of the civil partnership in the United Kingdom, and specifically in England and Wales.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Civil Partnership Act 2004A Practical Guide, pp. 5 - 8Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005