Responses to Civil Partnership:A framework for the legal recognition ...

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If two civil partners do not have a shared household that would be amatter for them, and no-one will force them to live together. Thesituation is no different for married couples.On dissolution of a civil partnership where there has been no sharedhousehold, these circumstances would be taken into account by the courtwhen considering the facts of the case in the dissolution proceedings.Rights and ResponsibilitiesQ. Why should I lose out on some rights by choosing not to register a civilpartnership?A. The registration of a civil partnership involves both legal obligations aswell as legal protections. It would not be appropriate for couples to gainall the rights without any of the responsibilities. Certain rights, forexample, protection from domestic violence would not be dependent uponthe registration of a civil partnership. 9ImmigrationQ. Non-married partners must be resident for five years to qualify fornaturalisation as a British citizen and married partners only three years. Willregistered same-sex partners be able to qualify after three or five years?A. The Government intends to amend British nationality law to put civilpartners on the same footing as spouses. A three year residence periodwill apply to both.Q. If the civil partnership law comes into force will this mean that my same-sexpartner who lives in a different country will be able to come and live here inEngland with me?A. If you are a UK national, your same-sex partner will be able to apply forentry clearance to come to the UK to register a partnership with you.Once entry clearance is obtained and you have registered, your partnermay apply for leave to remain in the UK for two years in the first instance.At the end of this period and provided the partnership is still subsistingand other criteria are met, application can be made for settlement.9Safety and Justice: The Government's Proposals on Domestic Violence" set out how the Government proposes toamend the "associated person" criteria of the Family Law Act 1996 to provide same-sex couples who are cohabitingwith the same levels of protection as cohabiting opposite-sex couples. The Government intends to legislate at theearliest possible opportunity.38
Hospital Visiting and Medical TreatmentQ. Why can’t the registration of a civil partner make me the legal “next of kin”?A. There is no legal definition of “next of kin” in respect of hospital visiting.The visibility of civil partnerships should lead to far greater recognition ofsame-sex relationships and should make it much more unlikely thatmedical staff could ignore the status of such a relationship.PensionsQ. We are concerned that the current proposals for state pensions will requireten years to implement and we want to know how survivor pensions inoccupational schemes will be calculated.A. These are important areas of policy and the Government is activelypursuing the most appropriate approach to take.Q. Why can’t civil partnerships happen before 2010?A. The reference to 2010 in the consultation document referred to someelements of state pensions which are being equalised between men andwomen, not to any other proposals relating to civil partnerships.Life InsuranceQ. Will insurance companies be allowed to discriminate against civil partners?A. The Government intends to create a level playing field between marriedcouples and civil partners in terms of how they are treated for lifeinsurance purposes by creating a presumption that civil partners have anunlimited insurable interest in each other's lives. This will be of particularsignificance for civil partners who intend to take out a joint mortgage. Itis in the interests of both the industry and of society that people whoapply for insurance are treated fairly and with respect and have theirpremiums set such that they reflect the relative risk that they bring to theinsurance pool.39
Page 4: Table of contentsForeword by Jacqui
Page 9 and 10: 2. Analysis of your responses83% of
Page 11 and 12: 2.9 Of those representing the Publi
Page 13 and 14: 3. Emerging Themes3.1 Throughout th
Page 15 and 16: Why exclude opposite-sex couples?3.
Page 18 and 19: Tax3.8 A large number of people rai
Page 20 and 21: Elderly same-sex couples3.13 It was
Page 22: 4. Your responses to our questions4
Page 26: Do you wish to comment on the possi
Page 29: Are there any other rights and resp
Page 32 and 33: 5. Your Questions5.1 We asked for c
Page 34 and 35: The Registration ProcessQ. How will
Page 36: The Dissolution ProcessQ. Why not o
Page 41 and 42: Many married couples do not have ch
Page 43 and 44: Comments or ComplaintsIf you wish t

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