Registering a civil partnership

A civil partnership is a legal relationship which can be registered by two people who aren't related to each other.

Civil partnerships are available to both same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples.

Registering a civil partnership will give your relationship legal recognition. This will give you added legal rights, as well as responsibilities.

To register a civil partnership, you and your partner must sign a civil partnership document in front of two witnesses and a registrar.

In some situations, a couple who have not registered a civil partnership will have the same legal rights and responsibilities as a couple who have registered a civil partnership. This will be the case, for example, when working out your entitlement to welfare benefits and tax credits.

Who can register a civil partnership

You and your partner can register a civil partnership as long as all the following circumstances apply:

• you are both 16 or over. If you are 16 or 17, you will usually have to get written consent from your parents or legal guardians
• you have lived in the same area in England or Wales for at least seven days
• neither of you is already either a civil partner, or married
• you are not close blood relatives.

People aged 16 or 17 and parental consent

If you are 16 or 17, you will need the consent of each parent with parental responsibility and any legal guardian in order to register a civil partnership.

You may not be able to get the consent of your parents, perhaps because you don't know where they are. Or your parents may refuse to give their consent for you to register a civil partnership. If this is the case, you can apply to a court for permission to register your civil partnership. You will need to get legal advice to do this.

For more information about parental responsibility, see Children in Living together and marriage - legal differences.

How to register a civil partnership

There are two steps needed to register a civil partnership. The first step is to give notice of your intention to register and the second is to actually register the civil partnership.

Giving notice

You and your partner will each need to give notice of your intention to register a civil partnership to the local register office where you live. You must do this in person. You will need to do this even if you are going to register your civil partnership somewhere else. You must have lived in an area for at least seven days before you can give notice there.

When you give notice, you will be asked to give details of the date and place where the civil partnership is to be registered, so you should contact the venue where you are going to register first.

You will also have to give the register office certain personal details. These are your name, your address, your age, your nationality and whether you have been in a civil partnership or married before. You will be asked to provide documentary evidence of these details, for example your passport, your birth certificate, a divorce decree absolute or the death certificate of a former civil partner. If one of you is subject to immigration control, you may have to provide additional documentary evidence - see under heading People subject to immigration control.

Once you have given notice of your intention to register a civil partnership, details from the notice will be made available in a register office for people to see. This will be in the area in which both of you live and the area where you're going to register, if this is different.

The details must be made available for people to see for 28 days before you can register your civil partnership. This is to give an opportunity for objections to be made.

After 28 days, you will be free to register your partnership, as long as there are no objections and no legal reasons why you can't go ahead. The register office must give you a legal document called a civil partnership schedule which you will need in order to register a civil partnership.

You must register within the next twelve months. If you don't register your civil partnership within this period, you will not be able to register unless you start the whole process again.

In some exceptional circumstances, for example, where one of you is seriously ill and not expected to recover, you can ask for the 28-day waiting period to be waived – see under heading Special rules for people who are seriously ill.

The 28-day waiting period can also be waived in some circumstances where one of you has acquired a different gender - see under heading Special rules if one of you has acquired a different gender.

Registration

You can register your civil partnership in any register office or at any venue that has been approved to register civil partnerships. Anywhere that has been approved to hold civil marriages automatically has approval to register civil partnerships. Non-religious venues cannot choose whether to hold civil partnerships or not, if they hold weddings. This would be unlawful discrimination.

Religious premises are not obliged to host civil partnership ceremonies. If they do, they can choose to host:

• all civil partnerships

• just civil partnerships between two people of the same sex

• just civil partnerships between two people of the opposite sex

You can search for approved premises on GOV.UK. You should check the venue is available before giving notice to register.

You and your partner have legally registered your civil partnership when you have signed a legal document, known as the civil partnership schedule, or a licence if one of you is seriously ill – see under heading Special rules for people who are seriously ill. This must be done in front of a registrar and two witnesses.

There are no further legal requirements and you don't have to have a ceremony, although you can choose to have one if you want. Many local authorities will arrange for a ceremony in addition to the signing of the civil partnership document but they do not have to.  No religious service is allowed at the signing of the civil partnership schedule.If you want a ceremony and the local authority refuses to carry one out, you could:

• find a register office in another local authority where you can sign the civil partnership schedule and have a ceremony
• find other approved premises where you can sign the civil partnership schedule and have a ceremony
• arrange a ceremony somewhere else after signing the civil partnership schedule has taken place at the register office.

The cost of registering a civil partnership

You will need to pay a fee to give notice of your intention to register a civil partnership and a registration fee. The fee depends upon where you want to register your civil partnership. You should contact the venue for details of the fees.

You get a civil partnership certificate when you register. You will be charged a fee for this. For details of fees, visit the GOV.UK website at www.gov.uk.

Special rules for housebound people

There are special rules for registering a civil partnership for housebound people. These enable a couple to register at the place where one of them is housebound.

You are considered housebound if a doctor states that, in their opinion, you should not be moved because of disability or illness for at least the next three months.

The procedure for someone who is housebound to register a civil partnership is exactly the same as the usual procedure, with the following exceptions:

• a doctor's statement must be provided. The doctor's statement must be made no more than 14 days before you give notice and must be on a form provided by the register office
• you will only have three months, instead of the usual twelve, to register your civil partnership after the 28-day notice period runs out - see under heading How to register a civil partnership.

Special rules for people who are seriously ill

There are special rules for registering a civil partnership for people who are seriously ill and not expected to recover. These relax the rules for registering a civil partnership in order to speed up the process. This means that you will not have to wait 28 days between giving notice and registering your civil partnership – see under heading How to register a civil partnership. Also, only one of you will need to give notice of your intention to register a civil partnership to the register office. You will need to provide evidence that one of you is seriously ill and not expected to recover, and that they are too ill to be moved.

People subject to immigration control

There are special rules for registering a civil partnership if either you or your partner is subject to immigration control.

You will be subject to immigration control unless you are:

• a British citizen or someone who has the right to live in the UK, or
• an EEA national, or
• someone who doesn't have any conditions attached to your stay in the UK because you are, for example, a diplomat or a member of visiting armed forces.

If you are subject to immigration control, you and your partner must both give notice to register your civil partnership at a special Register Office. Before you will be allowed to give notice, you must have been granted entry clearance to the UK specifically for the purpose of registering a civil partnership in the UK.

For more information, visit GOV.UK at www.gov.uk.

If the registrar believes that someone is entering into a civil partnership for immigration purposes, they must report this to UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI).

If you are subject to immigration control and want to register a civil partnership, you may need to get advice from an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.

Recognition for partnerships formed overseas

Some couples may already have formed a civil union, registered partnership or domestic partnership abroad.

If you are in one of these relationships, you can get automatic recognition in the UK as civil partners and will not need to register in the UK as well. However, you, your partner and your overseas relationship must meet certain conditions.

You can find out more about recognition for partnerships formed overseas on GOV.UK.

Ending a registered civil partnership

Once you have registered a civil partnership, it can only be ended if one of you dies, or by applying to court to bring the partnership legally to an end.

You cannot apply to bring a civil partnership legally to an end until it has lasted for at least one year.

For more information about ending a civil partnership, see Ending a civil partnership.

Converting a civil partnership into a marriage

Same-sex couples who registered their civil partnership in England and Wales can convert their civil partnership into a marriage. Opposite-sex civil partners can’t convert their civil partnership to a marriage.

How to convert a civil partnership into a marriage

There are two ways to convert a same-sex civil partnership into a marriage:

• a simple administrative process called a 'standard' conversion
• a two stage process where the conversion may be followed by a ceremony

The standard conversion process

This is a simple process where you both attend an appointment at a register office. You will need to give the following evidence:

• evidence of your name and date of birth, for example, current passports or birth certificates
• evidence of your address, for example, recent Council Tax or utilities bill
• your original civil partnership certificate

A legal declaration will be drawn up for you both to sign with the registrar. It states that you agree to convert your civil partnership to marriage and are happy to become your partner’s lawful husband or wife. If you wish to say the declaration to each other, you can. Your marriage is then registered and you will get a marriage certificate.

A conversion followed by a ceremony

This is a two stage process where the conversion can take place at venues where same sex couples are able to marry. For example:

• register office
• approved premises
• religious buildings that are registered for the marriage of same sex couples where a ceremony is to immediately follow the conversion
• premises where a ceremony according to the Jewish faith of the Society of Friends is to immediately follow the conversion

You must both attend an appointment at a register office. You will need to give the following evidence:

• evidence of your name and date of birth, for example, current passports or birth certificates
• evidence of your address, for example, recent Council Tax or utilities bill
• your original civil partnership certificate

A legal declaration will be drawn up for you both to sign with the registrar. It states that you agree to convert your civil partnership to marriage and are happy to become your partner’s lawful husband or wife. If you wish to say the declaration to each other, you can. The signing of the declaration can then be followed by a ceremony.

Following the ceremony the marriage is registered, and a marriage certificate is issued. The marriage certificate can either be collected or posted.

Procedures for certain groups

There are separate procedures for converting a same-sex civil partnership into a marriage if you are a housebound, detained or seriously ill person. You should contact your local registrar for more information on these procedures.

Fees

There is a fee of £45 for the standard conversion service, although the service is free if you entered into a civil partnership before 29 March 2014, and wish to convert your civil partnership into a marriage before 10 December 2015. There are also fees to pay for an additional ceremony, but for the first year the overall cost will be reduced by £45.

Further information

You can find more information on the Stonewall website at www.stonewall.org.uk.