Is a civil partnership the same as marriage?

Civil partnership was created for same-sex couples by the Civil Partnership Act 2004 and opened to opposite-sex couples in December 2019 following the Supreme Court's decision in Steinfeld and Keidan. Many couples choose it precisely because it carries no religious or historical connotations while conferring the same protections.

The rights it confers

• Finance on breakdown — the same financial orders as on divorce, including property adjustment, pension sharing and maintenance.
• Home rights — the right to remain in the family home even if you do not own it.
• Tax — the same capital gains and inheritance tax exemptions between partners as between spouses.
• Pensions — treated as spouses by most occupational schemes for survivor benefits and pension sharing.
• Inheritance — a surviving civil partner inherits under the intestacy rules exactly as a spouse would.
• Next of kin — recognised for hospital and medical purposes.

Registering, dissolving and converting

Both partners must be 16 or over (with parental consent below 18), not already married or in a civil partnership, and not within the prohibited degrees of relationship. Each gives notice separately at a register office, and after a 28-day waiting period the partnership is registered by signing the civil partnership document before a registrar and two witnesses. No words need be spoken, though many couples hold a ceremony alongside. Registration currently takes place at a register office or approved premises rather than a religious building.

Dissolution follows the same no-fault framework as divorce under the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020: an application on the ground of irretrievable breakdown, a conditional order after 20 weeks, and a final order six weeks later. The financial process, and the MIAM requirement for disputes about children, are identical. The one substantive difference is that adultery cannot be relied on, because it is legally defined as intercourse between a man and a woman — a distinction that no longer has practical effect under the no-fault system.

A civil partnership can be converted to marriage by agreement, at a register office or approved premises, or in a religious building where the organisation has opted in. The marriage dates from the conversion, but a court considering finances later looks at the whole length of the relationship, so nothing is lost. Recognition abroad varies considerably by country, so check before relocating.