A Quick Guide to ‘Gay Marriage’ in the UK

A symbolic marriage cake in favor of allowing gay marriages in Italy not only to heterosexual couples but to lesbian and gay ones as well. Picture by Giovanni Dall'Orto, January 26 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The topic of same-sex marriage, or gay marriage as it is more colloquially referred to, is very much on the public agenda following President Barack Obama’s recent public backing for its legalisation and the current consultation being carried out here in the UK by the coalition government. It is therefore an apposite time perhaps to take a look at the status of same-sex unions in the UK.

The Legality of ‘Gay Marriage’
Gay marriage is still not legally recognised in the UK, whether it be a civil gay marriage or a religious one. There is currently no circumstance in which members of the same gender can be legally married, even if one member of the partnership has undergone gender change. The incumbent coalition government have pledged to investigate legalising gay marriage for England and Wales before the next general election and as mentioned above there is an ongoing consultation process to achieve this; as there is in Scotland under the Scottish National Party’s leadership. The political and social landscape is fast evolving on the issue with the Conservative and Labour parties joining the Liberal Democrats in supporting its legalisation since the last election, seemingly reflecting increasing public support for the idea. As a result it looks increasingly likely that civil gay marriages will be legally recognised across the UK within the next couple of years.

Until then the only option open to same-sex couples looking to formalise their relationships is that of civil partnerships.

Civil Partnerships
Civil partnerships have been in place in the UK since 2005 allowing same-sex couples to obtain the same legal recognition that mixed sex marriages benefit from. They have, however, been kept legally distinct from marriage and cannot be referred to in any context using the term “marriage” (although they often are colloquially). Even individuals undergoing gender changes are required to dissolve their marriage before doing so, as mentioned above, although they are given dispensation to enter a civil partnership the same day.

Couples in a civil partnership therefore enjoy the same legal rights and responsibilities bestowed upon each member of the union as those in both civil and religious marriages. These incorporate the financial implications surrounding tax (including inheritance tax exemptions) and the calculation of benefit entitlements and pensions, in addition to the fact that same-sex civil partners enjoy the same property rights as married couples, recognition in life assurance policies as well as the status of next of kin in, for example, medical scenarios. Moreover, the partner who is not the biological parent of a child in a civil partnership has the ability to apply for full parental responsibility akin to that of step parent in a marriage, whilst couples who are unable to have biological children also have the same rights as married couples to adopt (except in Norther Ireland).

There are further similarities between the concepts of marriage and civil partnership in regard to how individuals can enter into their union. With both, they must be over 16 years of age and cannot already be married or in a civil partnership at the time. Civil partnership ceremonies can even be conducted in religious venues although akin to civil marriages they can’t involve any religious elements (readings, music etc) during the ceremony itself.

What’s more, if a couple come to the stage where they wish to separate, although the process is not technically referred to as a divorce, instead a dissolution, it is a comparable process (barring the ability to use adultery as a sole reason for dissolution). As a consequence of the equivalent financial and legal entanglements involved with civil partnerships, those wishing to do so will need to resolve the same issues when they do dissolve their partnership and can be faced with the same responsibilities such as child maintenance going forward. Couples can even decide to draw up prenuptial agreements just as they would for a marriage to aid with these resolutions if the time comes.

All these similarities lead many to refer to civil partnerships as “marriages by any other name” and as is the case with conventional marriage any good family law firm should be able to guide you through the processes involved in entering into as well as dissolving a civil partnership in that eventuality.

© Stuart Mitchell 2012
If you want to find out more about the legal aspects of civil partnerships in the UK, including their dissolution, then you can visit Family Law Solicitors London.

Key Marriage and Divorce Terms Explained

Portrait of Henry VIII (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For couples entering into marriage as well those coming out the other side, emotions run high for contrasting reasons, however it is always worth getting to grips with a few key legal concepts to make the transitions smoother.

Mediated & Collaborative Divorces
A particularly expanding side of divorce law and procedure is the area of mediated and collaborative divorces. These processes aim to ensure that conflict and hostility are removed from divorce (for the sake of the individuals involved and their families) and that the parties concerned work together as much as possible to achieve an outcome that suits each as far as possible. The techniques both use open channels of communication between the parties to minimise misunderstandings and promote co-operation.

Collaborative divorce processes involve the parties sitting around a table together (figuratively or literally) with representative lawyers, neutral financial experts and all relevant information in an attempt to find agreement without the need for a court hearing. If a resolution is not found and the case goes to court, neither can the discussions that occur during the process be used in court or the lawyers involved go on to represent either of the parties.

Mediated divorce is similar to collaborative divorce but occurs during a court hearing. It employs an impartial lawyer as a facilitator who acts as a go-between throughout the hearing to ensure that there is an open channel of communication and that negotiations have structure and feasible goals.

Pre-Nuptial Agreement (Prenup)
Otherwise known as an antenuptial or premarital agreement, a prenup is an increasingly popular agreement sought by couples entering into marriage to ensure a pre-agreed and smooth division of their assets in case of divorce. These ‘contracts’ are used traditionally in Jewish and Islamic law and are legally recognised in some continental European countries where they can be binding regardless of events leading to the divorce. In the US, however, they are not legally binding although they can be taken into account as an indication of each party’s intent as they entered into the marriage; whilst in the UK, prenups have only very recently been acknowledged as having a (limited) potential to influence divorce outcomes in certain circumstances.

Annulment
In contrast to a divorce, which is the dissolution of a valid marriage, an annulment is the ruling that a marriage is null and void. In other words the marriage was never legally valid in the first place (void ad initio) and so can be considered to have never existed as a valid legal state at all.

Annulments can be sought and granted if either party in a marriage was not in possession of all relevant information and free will when consenting to the marriage, or was not legally entitled to marry. Reasons can include duress, insanity or deception at the point of consent, as well as polygamy (the taking of multiple spouses) by either party or the individuals being closely related. Despite the fact that annulment renders a marriage invalid for its duration, children born in a marriage which is subsequently annulled can still be deemed as legitimate, depending on the jurisdiction involved (as is the case for the example in US).

Historically, annulments were commonplace under the Catholic Church where a valid marriage is a contract for life and so the only way for a marriage to be dissolved is to determine that it was never valid in the first place. This leads to the interesting contradiction that Henry VIII didn’t technically have six wives as is common wisdom. As three marriages were annulled he can be said, in legal sense, to have only had three.

© Stuart Mitchell 2012
If you want to find out more about the advice available to you through a divorce and live in the south of the UK then you can visit here.

2010 Divorce Rates and Longer Term Trends

On 8th December, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) released the latest figures on divorces taking place in 2010. Having recently written about the trends over recent years, and what this tells us about the health of marriage as an institution, it is worth considering how these latest stats affect the bigger picture.

The headline is that the number of divorces in 2010 rose; the first annual rise in eight years (since 2003) and seemingly out of step with the broader trend. The total number of divorces that occurred in 2010 came to 119,589 representing a 4.9% increase on 2009’s 113,949 divorces. Although, on the surface, this does seem to suggest a rise in the prevalence of divorce the figure could potentially be explained by other factors such as a larger married population - more tellingly the divorce rate, that is the percentage of the married population that got divorced, also rose from 10.5% in 2009 to 11.1% in 2010. So does this reinforce the perception that more marriages are failing?

Rather than an indication of a broader shift in societal attitudes it is more likely that the results for 2010 mark a glitch in a longer term decline in divorce rates. This kind of glitch or spike in divorce rates has been seen at other points in recent history when the country has been on the tail end of a recession. In 1993 the rate spiked following the recession between 1990 and 1992. There seems to have been a lag between the worst of the financial troubles and a jump in divorces and it seems plausible that this could also hint at causality; financial issues are one of the major causes of relationship breakdowns and the lag may be explained by a) an initial reaction to ‘pull together’ to deal with money issues, b) the build up of subsequent pressures in the relationship and then, c) once the relationship has broken down, the time it takes for divorce process itself to complete.

In terms of the broader picture, the actual number of divorces has been noticeably falling for the last decade although it is easy to attribute this to the corresponding fall in marriages and previous divorce trends eroding the size of the married population in the first place. The fact that the divorce rate has been steadily falling too suggests that those who are married are less likely to split.

Further evidence comes from the profile of those couples involved. More divorces involved individuals aged 40-44 than any other age group in 2010 but interestingly it seems that the age at which people divorce is creeping up (both men and women had 0.2 increases to 44.2 and 41.7 respectively), albeit in line with the rise in the age at which people are marrying, whilst the duration of marriages has plateaued. Moreover, the highest rate of divorces for men in 2010 was seen in the 30-34 year old age group rather than the 25-29 group in 2009 (women were unchanged). This may all suggest that marriages are starting later but are beginning to last a little longer.

Despite the latest figures telling us that 33% of marriages starting in 1995 had failed in the 15 year period to 2010 (up from 22% of those in the same 15 year period from 1970) the ONS is suggesting that the figures they have obtained so far may indicate that the rate of divorce before the 15th year for more recent marriages may be likely to decline. Again this adds a little more weight to the argument that couples now seem to be waiting longer (cohabiting), being more cautious but ultimately, as a result, being more successful in their marriages.

In summary, it would seem most likely that the rise in divorces in 2010 is a spike, as witnessed in previous periods of recession, rather than a longer term trend. There is still evidence in the age and duration of those getting divorced to support the bigger picture that couples are being more successful in marriage, but only time will tell.

If you are looking for more information on the legal support available to you through the divorce process then visit Family Law London.