The Prime Minister Theresa May has today (2 October 2018) announced a change to family law in an effort to bring greater security to unmarried couples and their families. This comes in the wake of the recent announcement of divorce law reform, removing the need for one party to blame the other.
Following the Supreme Court ruling in June that the law was discriminatory by preventing a heterosexual couple from entering into a civil partnership, which was only available to same-sex couples, the Government has agreed to make them available to everyone.
Sarah Atkinson, partner in the family law team at Stephens Scown LLP in Truro said: “Civil partnerships were created in 2004 to allow gay couples to formalise their relationship to give rise to the same legal rights as married couples in terms of financial claims after separation, as well as many tax benefits and pension rights during their relationship.
“Then later it was considered discriminatory that gay couples couldn’t marry and since March 2014 they have had the choice of marriage or civil partnership. Meanwhile heterosexual couples could only opt to get married. Despite recognising that this was discriminatory against heterosexual couples the Government decided to wait and see how the public responded to the change. As it turns out there are still many couples who would rather enter into a civil partnership than get married, because they don’t feel aligned with the institution of marriage. The number of couples getting married is declining year on year.”
Sarah added: “Today’s announcement shows the Government is keen to respond to changing attitudes towards modern family life and in particular to traditional marriage. I hope that when this change comes into force, more unmarried couples will consider formalising their relationship by registering a civil partnership so that they benefit from the various tax advantages and pension rights while together, and the protection of financial rights in the event that their relationship breaks down.
“With millions of cohabiting couples and families in the UK, and no truth behind the myth of ‘common law marriage’, there are a lot of people who currently have very little legal protection who really should consider civil partnerships as an alternative to marriage.”
Stephens Scown’s family team has received top ranking from independent legal guides Chambers UK and Legal 500. To contact Sarah, please call 01872 265100 or email family.truro@stephens-scown.co.uk