Family Law Solicitors
Our experienced Family Law team can help with all of the legal issues relating to civil partnerships. We’ll listen carefully to your concerns to ensure we take the approach that is best for you. Book a consultation today.
Head of Family & Partner
Our Family Law team includes trained mediators and collaborative lawyers, as well as traditional solicitors. Whatever your needs, we’ll use our legal expertise to find the best possible solution.
Our experienced team can help with legal issues relating to civil partnerships, including drafting pre-civil partnership agreements to organise finances and provide for division of assets if appropriate, wills and property issues, and legal processes around dissolution.
A civil partnership is a legal union between two people which gives them similar rights and responsibilities to married couples. Originally introduced in 2004 for same sex couples, civil partnerships were extended at the end of 2019 to include heterosexual couples.
Please note that we do not hold a Legal Aid contract and are therefore unable to provide Legal Aid services. All family matters are undertaken on a privately funded basis only.
Call one of our team to discuss starting and financing your divorce application, your rights and how we can support you through this distressing time in your life.
Head of Family & Partner
“Vanessa Friend is the stand out partner in the team. She is exceptionally bright and knowledgeable. She secures fantastic results for her client. She is a very good negotiator and very personable.”
There’s no legal advantage in England and Wales to choosing a marriage over a civil partnership or vice versa, as both provide similar legal rights and responsibilities. Many people prefer a civil partnership because it does not have the religious or traditional connotations of a marriage. The ceremony doesn’t take place in a church, but before a registrar.
Some foreign countries don’t recognise civil partnerships, whether heterosexual or same sex. Therefore, legal advice should be taken if you require your civil partnership to be legally recognised overseas.
Before entering a civil partnership, you may wish to sign a pre-civil partnership agreement, which sets out how the assets and income of the relationship will be divided if the partnership ends.
This document is intended to support you during the partnership by making it clear how your finances will be structured and minimising any stress if the partnership sadly breaks down.
At Hodge Jones & Allen we take a collaborative approach to pre-civil partnership agreements.
The process for ending a civil partnership is similar to a divorce. The person applying is called the petitioner and they must file a dissolution petition with the court. The only ground for a dissolution is the irretrievable breakdown of the partnership. The breakdown must be evidenced by one of four facts:
Unlike divorce, “adultery” is not a ground for dissolution of civil partnership.
A dissolution could take between 4-6 months from issue of the petition to the final stage, the Final Order. It may take longer if there are children or financial issues to resolve.
You can now apply for a dissolution online and we can file this for you. It’s important to get advice before filing the dissolution petition to ensure that it meets your needs, particularly if you have children or any financial issues to resolve.
You can apply once you have been in a civil partnership for more than one year and you can demonstrate one of the four facts above. You must also meet the jurisdiction criteria, which relate to whether you or your civil partner live in England and Wales. You’ll need to provide your original civil partnership registration or a certified copy.
The petition is just the procedural aspect of ending the civil partnership. You’ll need to separately agree the terms of a financial settlement with your partner and the terms of any child arrangements. It’s important to finalise a financial settlement before the Final Order. Our expert lawyers can advise you on these elements.
You could consider attending mediation to discuss the issues with your former partner or use solicitors’ correspondence or a roundtable meeting. We can advise you on the best approach for your matter to minimise the expense and stress of any dispute. Our family law team includes mediators and collaborative lawyers.
Hodge Jones & Allen family solicitors have been recognised as one of Chambers and Partners‘ top firms. We’re also noted by the Legal 500 for our commitment to excellence. You can rest assured that our team are highly experienced in handling even the toughest family law cases.
Hodge Jones & Allen Solicitors is proud of the many positive testimonials that we receive, reinforced by our ‘Excellent’ rating on Trustpilot. Please read through what some of our clients have had to say about their experience with our legal teams.
