Civil partnerships
More than 15,000 gay couples became civil partners between
December 2005 and September 2006, and it's predicted that
the total for the full year will top 19,000.
A civil partnership is a legally-recognised union between
two people of the same sex, effectively the right of marriage
of gay couples.
The main partnership rights include social security and
pension benefits, full recognition of life assurance schemes,
ability to succeed to tenancy rights and next-of-kin visiting
rights in hospitals.
But with it go responsibilities that may include providing
reasonable maintenance for civil partners and children of
the family; and ability to gain parental responsibility
for a partner’s children.
Same sex couples who sign a partnership also can inherit
from one another without a will.
The ceremony can be conducted at a Register Office or any
venue licensed for civil ceremonies such as a country hotel,
but only by a Registrar.
Each partner must sign the partnership papers in the presence
of the registration officer and two witnesses. There is
also a formal, court-based, process for dissolving the partnership
along similar lines to a divorce.
Registrations of Civil Partnership can take place at any
register office or council-approved venue in Norfolk but
those involved must have lived in Norfolk for seven days
before giving notice of a ceremony in the county.
After 15 clear days, the civil partnership can be registered
by signing a schedule in front of a registration officer
and two witnesses, with the option of a ceremony.
Ceremonies can be as simple – or lavish – as
a couple desires, according to a spokeswoman for Norwich
Register Office. She says: “For a Civil Partnership
the parties can just come in and sign the schedule if they
wish, but also they can have words, readings or exchange
tokens.”
But while there are similarities in a Register Office wedding
between a man and a woman, and a Civil Partnership such
as the requirement to give a notice period, there are critical
differences.
“In a marriage you are married when the woman has
said the final vows,” the Register Office spokeswoman
points out. “With a Civil Partnership, it is in the
signing of the schedule.”
Yet many of the early occasions have proved a hit with
Register Office staff. “They have been extremely wonderful
occasions, very happy for the people involved,” adds
the spokeswoman. “And many of the people involved
have waited a long time for such occasions.”
The ceremonies became a reality with the Civil Partnership
Act which was passed on November 18, 2004, and came into
effect in December 2005.
By the end of the decade, up to 22,000 couples are expected
to have undergone civil partnership ceremonies.
USEFUL WEBSITES:
www.civilceremonies.co.uk
www.gay.com
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