Financial Arrangements for Civil Partnerships
Dividing up your assets when a civil partnership comes to an end can be complicated.
When you end a civil partnership, you and your ex-partner need to agree how to separate your finances.
This includes deciding how you’re going to divide things like:
- investments
- pensions
- property
- savings
What is a civil partnership?
It is a legal status acquired by couples under the Civil Partnership Act 2004 who register as civil partners of each other.
When introduced the Civil Partnership Act 2004 only provided for same sex couples to be able to form civil partnerships. However, since December 2019 opposite sex couples have also been able to form civil partnerships.
What does a civil partnership mean?
A civil partnership gives a couple’s union legal recognition and provides similar legal rights and responsibilities to married couples.
What is the difference between marriage and civil partnership?
A civil partnership is entered into by signing a civil partnership document and is ended by dissolution while marriage is entered into by vows and ended by divorce.
Although civil partnerships do not come with the same traditional and religious connotations as marriages, the legal rights and responsibilities including property rights, pension benefits and the ability to obtain parental responsibility for a partner’s child are very similar to those enjoyed by married couples.
How to get a civil partnership?
You can register your civil partnership at the Registry Office or any venue that has been legally approved to register civil partnerships. However, as is the case with couples who are intending to marry, before you can register the civil partnership you must first have given notice of your intention.
What are the advantages of a civil partnership?
The main advantage of registering as civil partners is that it provides the couple with similar legal rights to married couples. This contrasts with unmarried couples who have much more limited legal rights and responsibilities even when they have been living together.
Other reasons why a couple may choose to enter into a civil partnership rather than marry are because they object to the religious connotations of a traditional marriage or having been married before they have decided they do not want to repeat the process.
How can I dissolve a civil partnership?
After a couple have been civil partners for at least one year an Application can be made to dissolve the civil partnership. As is the case with divorce proceedings the only ground for the dissolution of the civil partnership is that the civil partnership has irretrievably broken down. The procedure for dissolving a civil partnership is essentially the same as the procedure for obtaining a divorce.
How much does it cost to dissolve a civil partnership?
For a straightforward application to obtain a Dissolution Order we change a fixed fee of between £500 and £750 plus VAT pus the Court Issue Fee.