SEXUAL ORIENTATION;

MARRIAGE;

You asked for a summary of the British government’s recent proposal to create a civil registration procedure to grant legal recognition to same-sex partnerships.

SUMMARY

In June 2003, the British Department of Trade and Industry’s Women and Equality Unit issued a report endorsing a proposal for civil partnership registration. Separate sections in the report describe the formal requirements, procedures for registrations and dissolutions, and rights and responsibilities associated with registration.

The full report can be downloaded from http: //www. womenandequalityunit. gov. uk/research/civil_partnership_consultation_FINAL. pdf. The government is soliciting public comments until September 30, 2003.

FORMAL REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS

Registrants would have to be at least age 16, and would have to get parental permission if under age 18. Each would have to sign a sworn declaration stating that he was not (1) entering into a civil partnership before an existing partnership ended or (2) entering into a civil partnership while married. People wishing to register a same-sex civil partnership would be prohibited from doing so if they were related by close or half blood, adoption (in particular circumstances), or by degrees of affinity (relationships arising out of either their former marriages, registered partnerships, or former marriages or registered partnerships of certain relatives).

REGISTRATION PROCESS

Local registration offices, which currently register marriages, would administer the civil registration process. Couples who have lived in England or Wales for at least one week could appear in person to file notice of their intent to register their partnership with the local registration officer. They could formally register the partnership, for a fee, as early 15 days later, but no later than 12 months thereafter.

RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES DURING THE RELATIONSHIP

The proposal would treat registered partners the same as spouses for the following purposes:

1. immigration,

2. voting,

3. privileges against giving testimony in court,

4. making financial decisions on behalf of mentally incapacitated adults,

5. prison visits,

6. domestic violence protections,

7. adoption,

8. parental responsibility,

9. hospital visitation and medical treatment decisions,

10. income-related benefits,

11. dependent benefits,

12. state pensions, and

13. life insurance.

WHEN ONE PARTNER DIES

Registered partners would be added to the list of those who can register a death and would be given the same rights as a spouse at inquests. Where necessary, the definition of “relative” would be revised to ensure that registered partners have rights to make decisions about burial, exhumation, and cremation.

Surviving partners would be eligible for the same bereavement and survivor benefits as surviving spouses currently qualify for. They could also sue and recover damages for their partners’ wrongful death and loss

of consortium. And the government would make them automatically eligible for criminal injuries compensation fund benefits, eliminating a current eligibility requirement of two years of cohabitation.

Surviving partners would also be given the same rights as spouses under inheritance, estate administration, and tenancy succession laws.

DISSOLUTION PROCESS

The process for dissolving registered partnerships would be similar to existing divorce procedures. The partner applying for the dissolution would have to prove that the relationship has broken down irretrievably. The court could then grant a provisional dissolution order, which could be made final after six weeks. No application for an order for dissolution of a partnership could be filed until at least one year after the partnership was registered.

Void and Voidable Registered Partnerships

A partnership would be void if (1) the parties were within the prohibited degrees of relationship or disregarded the requirements for partnership registration or (2) either party was under age 16, already married, or a party to another civil partnership at the time of registration.

A partnership would be voidable if either of the parties did not validly consent to the registration of civil partnership as a result of duress, mistake, one partner being pregnant by a third party without the other’s knowledge, or lack of mental capacity. The effect of an order that the partnership is voidable would be to bring the partnership to an end from the date of the final order. The partnership would be treated as having been valid up until the date of that order. Property relief would be available for both void and voidable partnerships.

RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES DURING AND AFTER DISSOLUTION

Registered partners dissolving their relationship would be entitled to child custody and visitation orders and would be subject to the same child and spousal support obligations as apply to former spouses. Courts would have the same powers to order property divisions as they have when a marriage is dissolved.

SP-L: ro