The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022
This Act raises the age of marriage and civil partnership in England and Wales to 18, removing current provisions which allows 16 and 17 year olds to marry or form a civil partnership with parental or judicial consent.
This new law will come into force on 27th February 2023. If you have any queries at all in relation to this please contact us at register.office@wolverhampton.gov.uk or on 01902 551234.
This was approved in Parliament and made on 5 November 2019. The regulations came into force on 2 December 2019.
The Civil Partnership Act came into force on 5th December 2005 and allows same-sex couples to have their relationships legally recognised. It confers similar rights and responsibilities as civil marriage across a wide range of legal matters.
A civil partnership is formed when a couple sign a document in the presence of a civil partnership registrar and two witnesses. Couples may choose to hold a ceremony alongside the legal signing. The cost is the same whether you hold a ceremony or choose to just attend with your witnesses to sign the schedule.
Civil partners will enjoy most of the same state pension rights as husbands and wives. Entitlement will further extend to schemes that currently pay survivor benefits to widows and widowers. Equal rights for civil partners will also extend into areas such as childcare and maintenance, property inheritance and life assurance.
In the event of the breakdown of a relationship, the dissolution of a civil partnership can be sought through due legal process. In such circumstances, the court will have the power to deal with any resulting matters of property division or maintenance.