Long title | An Act to make provision for and in connection with civil partnership. |
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Citation | 2004 c. 33 |
Territorial extent | United Kingdom |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 18 November 2004 |
Commencement | 5 December 2005 |
Status: Amended
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Text of statute as originally enacted | |
Revised text of statute as amended |
The Civil Partnership Act 2004 (c 33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Bill for this Act was introduced by the Labour government and supported by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat opposition. The Act grants civil partnerships in the United Kingdom with rights and responsibilities very similar to civil marriage. Civil Partners are entitled to the same property rights as married opposite-sex couples, the same exemption as married couples social security and pension benefits, and also the ability to get parental responsibility for a partner's children, as well as responsibility for reasonable maintenance of one's partner and their children, tenancy rights, full life insurance recognition, next-of-kin rights in hospitals, and others. There is a formal process for dissolving partnerships akin to divorce.
Schedule 20 recognises certain overseas unions as equivalent to civil partnerships under the laws of the United Kingdom. Same-sex couples who have entered into those unions are automatically recognised in the United Kingdom as civil partners. In England and Wales, overseas marriages (but not other types of relationship) are automatically recognised as marriages by the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013; the same is true in Scotland by the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014.