Civil Partnership: Law Timeline And What's Next

The Civil Partnership Act was introduced in the United Kingdom in 2004 by the Labour government, initially permitting only same-sex couples to form civil partnerships. However, in 2019, the law was expanded to include opposite-sex couples. Civil partnerships are now also available to opposite-sex couples in Northern Ireland and Scotland, with similar reforms in place since 2020 and 2021, respectively.

The civil partnership law grants same-sex couples similar rights to those of married couples, including parental responsibility, life insurance recognition, and property and financial rights. While civil partnerships are not recognised in all countries, they have been established in several developed nations to provide legal recognition and rights to same-sex couples.

Civil partnerships and adoption

Civil partners can jointly adopt a child. The process is straightforward and does not involve an agency, as long as the applicant has lived with the child for at least six months. If you are not in a civil partnership, the procedure is likely to take longer.

If you are in a civil partnership, you will automatically have parental responsibility for your partner's child if you are the child's mother or father. If you are not the child's mother or father, you will be the step-parent. This will not give you automatic parental responsibility for the child, but you can get it by making a parental responsibility agreement or applying for a court order.

If you are living together with your partner without being in a civil partnership, you will not become the step-parent of your partner's child. However, you can still get parental responsibility for your partner's child by asking a court to give you parental responsibility or making a parental responsibility agreement with the child's mother or the child's parents if they both have parental responsibility.

Adopting from overseas

The law on adoption varies depending on the country you are adopting from. Some countries may not allow adoption by a same-sex couple, even if you are civil partners. If you want to adopt from outside the UK, you will need advice from an expert on overseas adoption.

Civil partnerships and hospital visitation rights

Civil partnerships afford couples who choose not to marry the same rights as married couples. These rights include hospital visitation rights.

History of Hospital Visitation Rights

In the past, hospital visitation rights were reserved for family members related by blood, adoption, or marriage to the sick, injured, or incarcerated person. However, since 2011, federal regulations require any hospital accepting Medicare and Medicaid to allow patients to choose who they want as visitors. This includes the majority of hospitals. The patient's wishes must be respected regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or relationship.

Choosing Your Visitors

As a patient, you have the right to receive the visitors you designate. These visitors can include a spouse or domestic partner (including a same-sex spouse or domestic partner), another family member, or a friend. You also have the right to revoke consent to any visitor at any time.

Choosing an Advocate

In addition to choosing your visitors, you may also choose someone to act as your advocate. This person can ask questions, speak to doctors on your behalf, and become part of your care team.

Medical Decision-Making

If you are hospitalized and unable to communicate, state rules vary regarding who can make medical decisions on your behalf. This role may be limited to people related to you by legal marriage or blood, depending on your state's policies. To ensure your wishes are carried out, you can draw up a Medical Power of Attorney or Health Care Proxy, designating an advocate to make medical decisions on your behalf when you are unable to.

Domestic Partnerships in California

California was the first state in the US to create a domestic partnership registry, affording same-sex couples the rights and benefits of marriage. Established in 1999, the registry initially provided very few privileges, mainly hospital visitation rights and the right to be claimed as next of kin. Over time, the scope of California domestic partnerships has expanded to include all the rights and responsibilities common to marriage. As of 2012, California law affords domestic partnerships the same rights and responsibilities as marriages, including hospital visitation rights.

Non-Discrimination in Patient Visitation

It is important to note that patient visitation rights are protected under non-discrimination regulations. The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) enforce these regulations, ensuring that visitation policies do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.

Civil partnerships and property rights

Civil partnerships are a way for couples, whether heterosexual or same-sex, to formalise their relationship without getting married. Civil partners have the same rights as married couples, including the same property rights.

Registration

A civil partnership is formed when two people, who aren't related to each other, sign a civil partnership document in the presence of a registrar and two witnesses. It is a legally recognised relationship that confers the same rights and responsibilities as marriage.

Property Rights

Civil partners are entitled to the same property rights as married couples. This includes the same exemption as married couples on inheritance tax, meaning that assets passed to a partner are not taxed. Registered civil partners can also pass assets to each other without any capital gains tax liability.

Dissolution

If a civil partnership is dissolved, either partner may be able to make a financial claim in the same way as when a married couple divorces, including the provision of property, money, pensions, or ongoing maintenance support.

Pre-registration Agreements

Before registering a civil partnership, partners may choose to draw up a pre-registration agreement, which can set out their rights and obligations towards each other, particularly if the relationship breaks down. This can include arrangements for children and personal possessions, such as the family home and any pensions.

Post-dissolution

Following the dissolution of a civil partnership, each partner will have an automatic right to inherit at least part of their former partner's estate. However, this may not provide the desired outcome, and it is recommended that each partner prepares a new will.

Children

In a same-sex civil partnership, partners can apply to jointly adopt a child, or one partner can apply for parental responsibility, giving them a legal role in the child's upbringing.

Finances

Civil partners are treated the same as married couples for most state benefits and employment benefits. This includes state pensions, public sector pension schemes, and private sector pension schemes.

Housing

Both civil partners have the right to remain in their home, regardless of whose name is on the tenancy agreement, unless a court has ordered otherwise.

Civil partnerships provide couples with legal recognition and added legal rights and responsibilities, including property rights that mirror those of married couples.

Civil partnerships and inheritance tax

Inheritance tax is a tax that must be paid on property or money left to you by your partner if it is valued above a certain amount. However, if you are in a civil partnership, you do not have to pay inheritance tax on property left to you by your civil partner. This is not the case if you and your partner were living together without being in a civil partnership. In this case, you may have to pay inheritance tax on property left to you by your partner.

The basic tax-free allowance before you must pay inheritance tax is currently £325,000. If this threshold has not been fully used when the first person in a marriage or civil partnership dies, you can transfer it to the surviving spouse or civil partner. The unused part can be transferred to the surviving spouse or civil partner. This means that the basic tax-free allowance available when a spouse or civil partner dies can be as much as £650,000 if none of their £325,000 threshold was used when the first partner of the couple died.

To work out the percentage of the unused threshold available to transfer, you must use the threshold in use at the time the first spouse or civil partner died. For example, if Carole dies leaving an estate worth £600,000, and she leaves £130,000 to her children and the rest to her husband Simon, the threshold in use at the time was £325,000. The £130,000 left to the children would use up 40% (£130,000 / £325,000 x 100) of the threshold, leaving 60% unused. When Simon dies, the threshold is still £325,000. His available threshold would increase by the unused percentage (60%) to £520,000 (£325,000 x 60% + £325,000). If Simon’s estate is not worth more than £520,000 there will be no inheritance tax to pay when he dies. Inheritance tax would only be payable on anything above £520,000.

You can only transfer the threshold if the couple were married or in a civil partnership when the first death occurred, and if you send the request to HMRC within 2 years of the death of the surviving spouse or civil partner.

Civil partnerships and parental responsibility

Parental responsibility refers to the legal rights and responsibilities one has as a parent. This includes providing a home for the child, protecting and maintaining the child, choosing and providing for the child's education, agreeing to the child's medical treatment, naming the child and agreeing to any name changes, looking after the child's property, and disciplining the child.

Who has parental responsibility in a civil partnership?

The woman who gives birth will always automatically get parental responsibility. She does not need to be the child's biological mother, so if she got pregnant via a donated egg and artificial insemination or she is a surrogate for a same-sex couple, she will still have parental responsibility.

In female same-sex couples, the woman who gives birth to the child will have automatic parental responsibility. In most circumstances, their civil partner will also automatically have parental responsibility. However, if the child was born to a female same-sex couple via artificial insemination before 6 April 2009, then the civil partner who is not the birth mother does not automatically have equal parental responsibility.

Same-sex partners who adopted while they were in a civil partnership will both have parental responsibility. Only once the Adoption Order is made will parental responsibility be transferred from the legal parents to the adoptive parents.

Civil partners do not automatically get parental responsibility for a child conceived via a third-party surrogate, even if they entered into a surrogacy agreement. The civil partners must obtain a Parental Order or adopt the child to become their legal parents and obtain parental responsibility.

Civil partners can acquire parental responsibility later on, for example, by making a parental responsibility agreement with the parent after entering into the civil partnership.

If you find yourself struggling to come to an agreement with your former partner over arrangements for your children, you can turn to mediation as a way of resolving the conflict in an amicable manner. Mediation is a method of alternative dispute resolution that focuses on opening up a dialogue between both parties, helping you to sort out the details of your civil partnership dissolution with the guidance of a trained mediator.

If mediation does not work, you can then apply for the court to make a decision on your behalf. The courts will always look to act in the best interests of the children involved in the case.

• Child Arrangement Order: Issued when the court reaches a decision regarding where the child should live, how much time is spent with each parent, and the type of contact the child is afforded with each parent.
• Specific Issue Order: Put in place if there are specific requirements regarding the child's upbringing, including what school they attend or whether they should be provided with a religious education.
• Prohibited Steps Order: Used to stop another person with parental responsibility from making decisions regarding the child's upbringing without consultation. It can also be used to prevent a parent from carrying out certain events or making specific trips.

Separating civil partners have the same financial rights as divorcing couples. They have a right to claim maintenance, lump-sum payments, property transfers or sales, and pension-sharing or attachment orders.

Frequently asked questions