Wishing you all an enjoyable New Year celebration.

May the year ahead be filled with love, harmony and lots of laughter.

Best wishes

​Christine

Congratulations to Outdoor ceremonies who have just published their updated website.

Well worth a look by anyone considering a outdoor ceremony as they have lots of beautiful locations to consider.

https://www.outdoorceremonies.co.uk

From today opposite sex couples can give notice for Civil Partnerships.  Following the usual 28 days notice they will be able to register their partnership from 31st December 2019.  (Until today only same sex couples were able to form a Civil Partnership.)

Why is this important ?

Many couples choose to live together rather than marry, by doing this they may forfeit their legal status as a couple.

Couples who enter into a Civil Partnership are regarded in the same way as a married couple. The position of civil partners in relation to financial arrangements mirrors that of spouses. 

The laws governing wills, administration of estates and family provisions applies to civil partners in the same way as to spouses. 

Although we rarely like to consider what will happen when a life partner dies it is worth discussing the financial position for when a person dies without a valid will their property must be shared out according to certain rules.  These rules are called intestacy.

Only married couples or civil partners and some other close relatives can inherit under the rules of intestacy.

Cohabiting partners who are neither married nor in a civil partnership cannot inherit under these rules.

So what happens if you jointly own your home ? 

There are two ways of owning a home - these are as a beneficial joint tenancy and tenancies in common.

If partners are beneficial joint tenements at the time of one partners death then the other partner automatically inherits.  However, if the partners are tenants in common the surviving partner does not automatically inherit.

Does a Cohabiting partner automatically inherit if there is no will ?

The short answer is "No" not automatically.

The following groups of people would have to apply to the Courts for financial provision

• Unmarried partners not in a marriage or civil partnership
• relations by marriage
• close friends
• carers.

No doubt this is a discussion which will gain interest in the coming years and it is predicted that there will be a sharp rise in the number of couples who choose to form Civil Partnerships in the future.

Please also see my page on Civil Partnership ceremonies.