What is a Civil Partnership?
A civil partnership is a legal relationship which can be registered by two people who are not related to one another. Since 31 December 2019, civil partnerships are now available to both same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples.
Essentially, registering a civil partnership will give a couple’s relationship legal recognition and will, therefore, provide them with additional legal rights and responsibilities.
Why choose Civil Partnership?
A couple who wish to commence cohabitation but do not want to get married may seriously consider civil partnership. Civil partnership grants the couple with largely the same rights as if they were married and so opens up a whole raft of financial claims in the event that the civil partnership were to ultimately break down.
What is the Process of Applying for a Dissolution of Civil Partnership?
The first key criteria is that the couple must have been civil partners for at least one year before any dissolution proceedings can be commenced.
An application can be made by one civil partner (i.e. a sole application) or by the couple together (i.e. a joint application). If the application is a sole application, then the person who starts the dissolution proceedings is known as the applicant and the other civil partner is known as the respondent. If it’s a joint application, then both civil partners are known as the applicants and there is no respondent.
If an application is initially brought jointly by the couple then this can be changed to a sole application if one of the civil partners decides that they no longer wish to pursue dissolution proceedings or if they refuse to progress the proceedings. However, if an application begins as a sole application it cannot be converted to a joint application.
To be eligible to commence dissolution proceedings in England and Wales, the applicant(s) must meet at least one of the jurisdictional criteria, which are based on the habitual residence or domicile of one or both of the spouses to the civil partnership. Habitual residence is difficult to define but is generally where someone lives most of the time and where they have their “centre of interests”. Domicile is equally rather difficult to define but, generally, a person is domiciled in a country if they consider it to be their permanent home, even though they live in another country.
There is only one ground for the dissolution of the civil partnership, being that it has irretrievably broken down.
Sole Application
Once a sole application has been finalised, it is submitted to court utilising the online portal, together with an image of the civil partnership certificate and the court fee. A statement of truth is also included within the application, which confirms that the applicant has included accurate information within the application and that they understand that they could be held in contempt of court if in fact something is not true.
The court will then issue the application which commences the dissolution proceedings.
The issued application and other documentation as produced by the court will then be served on the other person to the civil partnership or their solicitor. The documents must be served within 28 days after the application has been issued by the court.
The other party will then need to complete and submit to the court an acknowledgement of service form within 14 days. This can be done online and simply confirms that they have safely received the application.
It is not possible for a respondent to dispute dissolution proceedings, but on very limited grounds, such as the validity of the civil partnership.
Joint Application
Before issuing the joint application, the draft application will be sent to the other party or their solicitors to check and approve. The application is then returned back to the original person to review any additions. The draft application can go back and forth in this way before it is finally submitted to court to be issued.
The process will follow the same steps as with a sole application, however, there is no need for an acknowledgement of service form to be completed by either party.
Applying for the First Stage Dissolution Order – Conditional Order
A dissolution order is made in two stages. Provided that the proceedings are not being disputed then 20 weeks after the application has been issued, the applicant(s) can apply for the first stage of the dissolution order, called the Conditional Order. In the application for the Conditional Order the applicant(s) must confirm that they wish to proceed with the dissolution of the civil partnership and that everything in the application remains unchanged or, if anything has been changed then to detail what that is.
If it is the case that the application began as a joint application, but one party no longer wishes to proceed with the same then the party who does wish to progress the application can still make an application for a Conditional Order on a sole basis. The application would then become a sole application and the person who no longer wishes to pursue the application would become the respondent.
Apply for the Final Dissolution Order
Once six weeks and one day have passed from the day the Conditional Order was made, an application for the final Dissolution Order can be made. This brings the civil partnership to an end.
The best advice, however, would be to wait until any application for financial orders have been resolved and an agreement has been reached about financial matters before applying for the Final Order.
What is the Difference Between Dissolution and Annulment?
Dissolution requires one or both of the spouses to prove that the civil partnership has irretrievably broken down. This process can only be instigated after the spouses have been in their civil partnership for over one year.
The other way to end a civil partnership would be to apply for an annulment which results in the civil partnership being declared as ‘void’ and therefore as if it never happened or ‘voidable’ whereby it exists until it is annulled, provided certain criteria applies. In order to obtain an annulment the court would need to be satisfied that either the civil partnership was never legally valid (‘void’) or that it was legally valid but one of the specific reasons applies to make it ‘voidable’.
Examples of a void civil partnership would be if:-
- The spouses were closely related;
- One or both of the spouses were under 16 at the date of the civil partnership; or
- One of the spouses was already married or in a civil partnership.
Examples of voidable marriages would include those where:-
- The marriage / civil partnership was not consummated;
- The civil partnership was not consented to by both spouses;
- The other person had a sexually transmitted disease at the date of the civil partnership ceremony;
- One spouse was in the process of undergoing the process to transition to a different gender.
Annulment can be applied for at any time after the civil partnership. However, the grounds for seeking an annulment are limited and are often difficult to prove. The couple must have also lived in England or Wales for at least a year and have had a permanent residence here for 6 months before applying.
Financial Matters
Once an application to dissolve a civil partnership has been filed at court then either party can apply for a financial order(s). The orders available in financial remedy proceedings include:-
- Periodical payments (also known as maintenance);
- Lump sum orders;
- Property adjustment orders; and
- Pension sharing orders and pension attachment orders.
It is important to take advice from a specialist family lawyer in the event of the breakdown of a civil partnership so as to understand your rights and responsibilities.
For further advice regarding the dissolution of civil partnerships or for any other family matters please do not hesitate to contact Kate Barlow or another member of our Family Team.
