[2] In February 2018, the United Kingdom and Scottish governments began reviewing civil partnerships, potentially to expand them to include opposite-sex couples.
The UK Government was obliged to change the law to allow opposite-sex couples in England and Wales to enter into civil partnerships.
Civil partnership documents issued in Wales (regardless of the registering language) follow a standardised bilingual English and Welsh format.
Specific registration procedures apply to certain special circumstances, e.g. concerning the housebound, detained persons and those seriously ill and in danger of death.
On 17 February 2011, the UK government announced that, as the result of the passing of the Equality Act 2010, it would bring forward the necessary measures to remove the latter restriction in England and Wales, although religious venues would not be compelled to offer civil partnerships.
[23] The first civil partnership to be registered in a place of worship in the UK was at Ullet Road Unitarian Church in Liverpool on 6 May 2012.
On 26 September 2011, the Home Office published the following statement on its website:A public consultation to consider how to make civil marriage available to same-sex couples will begin in March 2012, the government announced today.
[25] It falls within the respective jurisdictions of the Scottish Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly to decide whether or not to remove the restrictions in the areas of civil partnerships and marriage.
From September to December 2011, the Scottish Government held a consultation on not only removing religious prohibitions for civil partnerships but also legalising same-sex marriage within that country.
On 10 December 2011, The Scotsman newspaper reported that some 50,000 responses had been received and that a government spokesperson stated that an analysis would be published in the spring of 2012.
[28] Despite the legalisation of same-sex marriage by the Scottish Parliament in February 2014, the Government of Scotland has yet to decide whether or not to open civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples.
Other aspects of Scotland's Marriage and Civil Partnership Act which legalised same-sex marriage in Scotland and relate to civil partnership include:[29] The Gender Recognition Act 2004 allows transgender people to obtain legal recognition for their 'acquired gender' allowing individuals to obtain a change in sex on birth certificates.
[32] For an overseas relationship to meet the general conditions it must, under the law of the country or territory in which it was formed: The position of civil partners in relation to financial arrangements mirrors that of spouses.
The laws governing wills, administration of estates and family provisions also apply to civil partners as to spouses; thus, provisions governing financial relief under Part 2 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA) and the Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Court Act 1978 also apply to civil partnerships.
In Scotland the centuries-old system of minimum legal rights to a deceased estate for a widowed spouse were expressly extended to civil partners by section 131 of Act.
When dealing with an application for dissolution, nullity or separation where there is a child in the family, the Court must consider if it should exercise its powers under the Children Act 1989.
Adoption provisions were amended to treat civil partners the same as married couples in Britain, although this does not apply to Northern Ireland at 18 November 2011.
In Scotland, names need not be changed to be considered valid (deeds poll do not exist under Scots law), though some English-based companies may still ask for proof from an official such as a Justice of the Peace.
Where a civil partnership is voidable, applications for nullity orders are subject to the bars of time, knowledge of defect and approbation.
The first civil partnerships in England and Wales were formed on 21 December 2005, with Westminster, Hampshire, The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham and Brighton & Hove conducting the largest numbers.
[40][41][42] On 17 February 2011, the UK Government announced its intention to remove the legal barrier to civil partnerships being registered on religious premises by implementing section 202 of the Equality Act 2010, and ran a consultation on this proposal from 31 March to 23 June 2011, and published a summary of its findings on 4 November 2011.
Faith groups which have applied to have their premises approved for the registration of civil partnerships include the Society of Friends (Quakers), Spiritualists, Unitarians, and United Reformed Church.
[45] The first civil partnership to be registered in a place of worship in the UK was at Ullet Road Unitarian Church, Liverpool, on 6 May 2012.
In 2018, the Church said "We believe that Civil Partnerships still have a place, including for some Christian LGBTI [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex] couples who see them as a way of gaining legal recognition of their relationship.
[55] In July 2024, the General Synod of the Church of England voted to support "stand-alone" services of blessing for same-sex couples after a civil partnership or marriage.
[82][3] In June 2018, the Supreme Court ruled in the Steinfeld-Keidan case that restricting civil partnerships to same-sex couples was discriminatory and mandated that the Government change the law, though did not set a timeline for doing so.
[9][86] The regulations came into effect on 2 December 2019, the date upon which opposite-sex couples could register their intent to form a civil partnership.
[10][87][88] This expansion of civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples applied only in England and Wales, and not Scotland or Northern Ireland.
[85] Steinfeld and Keidan became one of the first mixed-sex civil partners in the UK on 31 December 2019, with a ceremony at Kensington and Chelsea Register Office.
[12][92] Changed in Civil Partnership law in 2018 uk Organisations: Also see: Recognition of same-sex unions in the British Overseas Territories