Geraldine Morris looks at the implications of the Civil Partnership Act 2004
Family practitioners are generally aware that the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (CPA 2004) introduced provisions in relation to dissolution, nullity and separation orders largely equivalent to those set out in the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) regarding divorce, nullity and judicial separation. Equally, the provisions of the CPA 2004 regarding financial provision correspond with those for divorcing spouses under MCA 1973.
CPA 2004 is, however, a carefully drafted and comprehensive piece of legislation. It includes provisions in relation to remedies corresponding to those available to divorcing spouses under other legislation. In addition, although CPA 2004 has been in force since 2005, the lack of reported case law relating to civil partnership has led to a lack of up-to-date current awareness of civil partnership and the impact that reported divorce proceedings or different sex cohabitant cases may have upon civil partnership dissolution, ancillary relief and non civil partnership same sex relationships. Some of the areas where there are corresponding or comparable provisions which could be
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