Civil Partnership Dissolution

Unfortunately as with marriage, not every civil partnership works out and some couples will separate. To formalise the separation and dissolve the civil partnership, the process is similar to divorce.

This page explains:

the basics of civil partnership dissolution,
the court procedure,
how the papers are sent to the other partner,
the conditional dissolution order,
the final dissolution order and
financial issues.

The Basics

Either of you can start the dissolution. The only ground for a dissolution is that the civil partnership has broken down irretrievably. If you start the dissolution yourself, the only way to show that the civil partnership has irretrievably broken down is to prove one of four facts:

That your civil partner has behaved in such a way that you cannot reasonably be expected to live with them.
That your civil partner has deserted you for two years or more.
That you have been separated for two years and you both agree to the dissolution.
That you have been separated for five years.

If people do not want to wait for two years, they can only base the dissolution on “behaviour” even if they both agree to the dissolution. “Behaviour” does not need to be violence or other extreme behaviour. A combination of other behaviour can be sufficient. Often issues like working too much (or not working enough), showing too much (or too little) affection, combined with a number of other similar factors are used. Although there is no corresponding fact to “adultery” in divorce, a relationship or sex with another person could form the basis of an application based on behaviour.

Any behaviour you want to rely on should have happened in the six months before you separated or at any time since you separated.

Court Procedure

In addition to the application for dissolution, the “petition”, there are other documents you or your solicitor need to prepare, including a statement about the arrangements of any children. None of these are of great significance for the dissolution itself though. You can only start a civil partnership dissolution in a limited number of courts, namely in the Principal Registry of the Family Division in London and the county courts in Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Chester, Exeter, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle.

The dissolution is a two-stage process. The court will first grant a conditional order, and later make that order final. The court process starts when the court gets the dissolution petition, the civil partnership certificate and other documents and the fee of £300. It will then allocate a number to the case, open a file and send the papers to your civil partner, unless your solicitor asked the court to return the papers to send them to your civil partner or their solicitor themselves. If you registered a partnership or married abroad, you may need to have the certificate translated. You may also need other documents to show that your partnership counts as a civil partnership in England.

Sending the Papers to the Other Civil Partner

When your civil partner receives the dissolution papers, they have to fill in a form confirming that they have received the papers and whether or not they agree with the dissolution and return it to the court. The court will send a copy to you or your
solicitor if you have one. If your civil partner does not return the form, it may eventually be necessary to arrange for another set of the documents to be served personally, unless you can prove in some other way that they have received the petition and accompanying documents from the court.

This may for example be done by a process server (usually a private detective) giving it to them personally. There are special rules for service abroad.

Conditional Dissolution Order

If your civil partner agrees to the dissolution going ahead, you can then swear a statement confirming that everything in the dissolution petition is true, whether anything in the meantime has changed and so on. With that statement, you can apply for the conditional order. There is no court fee at that stage.

The district judge will then look at your dissolution papers and if the judge agrees that you are entitled to a dissolution, the court will set a date for the formal pronouncement of the conditional order, which may be a week to a month or so after the district judge has approved your dissolution. This is only the first dissolution order and you remain civil partners until the final order. You do not have to go to court for the pronouncement.

Final Order

You can apply for the final order six weeks after the date of the pronouncement of the conditional order. There is another court fee of £40 for that application. The court should process that application within a week or so, but it often takes longer.

In all, the dissolution can take as little as four to six months from start to finish. However, it can take a lot longer if either or both of you delay taking particular steps during the proceedings, or if there are problem with the court.

Finances

The court will not automatically look at any issues surrounding maintenance, pensions or capital division, even if these claims are made in the dissolution petition, which is customary. If you think that there is no way that you will be able to come to an agreement on finances, you may want to get the court involved at an early stage. There may be other reasons, such as the need for immediate maintenance or an order to freeze a bank account. You can start the financial court proceedings on the same day that you start your dissolution at court or you could wait and start them at any other time during your dissolution proceedings or even after the final order.

If you come to an agreement, for example through mediation or collaborative law, the court can approve that agreement and make an order reflecting it. This will give both of you security that there is no come-back in case one of you changes your mind. The court does not automatically rubber-stamp any agreement, but in most cases the judges approve the agreement reached. The earliest the courts can approve an agreement is after the conditional order has been made. Therefore, if you want the security of a court order, you may want to consider starting a dissolution earlier rather than wait for two or five years’ separation.

A solicitor can draft the order for you and explain to you what other papers need to be sent to the court. There are no set forms for the order, although solicitors have standard precedents for most parts of the agreement. The court fee for the consent order is only £40.

If it comes to court proceedings, the way the English courts deal with finances on the dissolution of a civil partnership is very similar to how they deal with finances on divorce.

Andrea Woelke is an expert on civil partnership and has written the leading textbook on the topic.

For advice on your specific circumstances contact Alternative Family Law: ring or email us.

February 2010

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