The Civil Partnership Act 2004 (CPA 2004) came into force on 5^th December 2005. However, in 2018 a Supreme Court ruling enabled this act to be amended and because of these the civil partnership regulations 2019 enabled opposite sex couples to form a civil partnership. This amendment came into force on 31^st December 2019.

What is a civil partnership?

The CPA 2004 allows same and opposite sex couples to legally form a civil partnership. A civil partnership is a legal relationship that can be registered by two people who are not related to each other. Forming this title allows your relationship to have legal rights and responsibilities. The CPA 2004 also made changes to other acts such as the Children Act 1989, the Adoption and Children Act 2002. The changes included allowing a civil partner to acquire parental responsibility.

As the Marriage Act 2013 made the marriage of same sex couples lawful, because of the 2019 amendment to the CPA 2004 this act now allows both same sex marriage and same sex civil partnerships and opposite sex marriage and opposite sex civil partnerships. This enables couples to have a wider choice when deciding whether they want to follow the traditional route of marriage or the modern aspect of entering a civil partnership.

Do civil partnerships and married couples have the same legal rights?

Civil partnerships have the same legal recognition and rights as married couples including tax inheritance and the financial regulations if the relationship does break down.

Contact Us

If you wish to discuss your situation or any issues raised in this blog our family solicitors are based in Wolverhampton, Cradley Heath and Sutton Coldfield and serve clients across the West Midlands.  For all new enquiries, please call 01902 328 355 or complete our online enquiry form and a member of our team will respond.