Marriage or Civil Partnership; the choice is now yours!

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Marriage or Civil Partnership; the choice is now yours!

Charles Keidan and Rebecca Steinfeld have today won their right in the UK Supreme Court to a civil partnership.

The Civil Partnership Act 2004 enabled same-sex couples to legalise their relationship and provided for the same rights as married heterosexual couples. This has a significant bearing in terms of inheritance, tax planning and in the event of their separation.

In 2014, same sex couples were granted the right to marry, effectively giving them a choice between marriage or a civil partnership whereas heterosexual couples could still only marry. Today’s ruling has deemed this to be discriminatory and as a result, the Civil Partnership Act will now be amended to enable all couples a choice when deciding how to formally recognise their relationship.

In the UK, there is believed to be in excess of 3 million co-habiting couples. It will be interesting to see whether this ruling has an effect on the uptake of civil partnerships that would provide each party with the protection which is clearly lacking for the majority of parties in a cohabiting relationship.

For more information on Civil Partnerships click here or contact Amanda de Winter on 01756 692871.

27 June 2018

 

 

 

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