Civil Partnerships
Same Sex relationships and the new Civil Partnership Act
This will treat same sex couples who register their partnership in an almost identical way to married couples.
The Civil Partnership Act became law on 18 th November 2004 . This Act will allow, from late 2005, same-sex couples to have their union recognized in the UK as the equivalent of marriage, by registration of a civil partnership.
This will have far-reaching consequences for many aspects of their lives, including inheritance claims, children issues provisions under wills and property ownership.
Same sex couples will welcome some of the changes for example the provisions which will allow the application of standard Inheritance Tax Planning techniques and the ability to transfer pensions to their partners. They will be entitled to have tenancy succession rights.
It is not all welcome news, however. One crucial point is that, like marriage, registration will revoke an existing will. Couples planning to register their partnerships will therefore need to arrange for new wills to be drawn up as a priority as failure to do so will leave civil partners intestate, their existing wills no longer being valid. This could have disastrous effects should one of them die. Take the situation where they have decided to hold their property as tenants in common (each allocated a specific share). The only way the partner will take the deceased’s share is if there is a valid will leaving it to him or her. If the couple forget to alter their wills there could well be some very unfortunate consequences.
The Act also means that the dissolution of a registered relationship, following it’s breakdown, is dealt with in an almost identical way as divorce with associated financial and property consequences.
It is vitally important therefore that all these issues are considered when same sex couples decide to cohabit or buy a property together.
You can find a copy of the Act at: www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2004/20040033.htm