u hear the news about mixed-sex civil partnerships being legalised? It may not be quite what you think – in Scotland, at least.
If you’re a fan of pub quizzes, University Challenge or other tests of general knowledge, you may want to memorise the names of two people: Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan.
They’re the two people who campaigned for years for civil partnerships to be extended to mixed-sex couples, took their case to the UK Supreme Court, and managed to win. As a result of their efforts, the Westminster government changed the law at the end of 2019.
Steinfeld and Keidan’s resulting civil partnership was widely reported in the media at the end of last year, along with government estimates that up to 84,000 mixed-sex couples could become civil partners in 2020.
Many people across the UK assumed these 84,000 couples would be spread across the UK. In fact, this is not so. Mixed-sex civil partnerships were given the green light in England and Wales, but the legislation has not yet been changed in Scotland (or Northern Ireland).
Instead, would-be mixed-sex civil partners in Scotland will have to wait a while. There is a Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill going through the Scottish Parliament but it is in its earliest stages, and not expected to become law until 2021.
Do civil partnerships offer anything that marriage doesn’t?
Or in other words, if you’re a mixed-sex couple in Scotland wanting to formalise your relationship, should you wait for the law to change?
Differences
- Administrative differences, eg, whose names are included on the certificate
- Marriage is terminated with a divorce, civil partnership with a dissolution
- Campaigners said civil partnership is ‘more modern ... with a focus on equality’
Similarities
- rights to property (if you split or one partner dies)
- pension rights and survivor benefits
- exemption from inheritance tax
As shown above, both civil partnership and marriage offer couples important legal and financial protections not automatically available to cohabiting couples (see article on Living together: not quite what you think?).
If you’re set on waiting till 2021 or decide not to do either, you should take good legal advice on how to protect your assets and your financial future.
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