Legal Preliminaries to your Civil Partnership
(notice)
The information provided on these pages is for general guidance
purposes only and is not a complete or exhaustive explanation
of current Civil Partnership Law or Legislation.
If you intend to register your civil partnership in a Register
Office or Approved Premise within England or Wales, outside your
district(s) of residence, then you must book the officiating Civil
Partnership Registrar of that District before notices of civil
partnership are entered at your local Register Office. This is to
ensure the availability of a registrar.
Before you can register a civil partnership in a Register Office
or an approved building in England and Wales, you have to give
formal notice of your intention to register a civil partnership.
You do this by attesting a “Notice of Civil Partnership”.
It is a legal requirement that notice of civil partnership is
given separately by each person to be registered. The notice must
be given personally to the Superintendent Registrar of the District
where the persons usually reside, preferably on the same day.
Each party must have been living in a Registration District, in
England or Wales, for 7 consecutive days immediately preceding
giving notice. If one party resides elsewhere in England or Wales,
for at least 7 days, a similar notice must be entered at the
Register Office for the other District.
Once the notices are given a minimum of 15 clear days must
elapse before the civil partnership registration can take place.
After the 15 clear days are completed, authorities must be issued
by the Civil Partnership Registrar in the district in which the
Registration will take place.
Notices of civil partnership are valid for one year from the
date of the first notice being taken and couples will be expected
to give their notices as soon as it is legally possible in order to
secure a booking.
In addition, you should book the officiating Civil Partnership
Registrar first before you book with the Approved Building
When you give notice in Wales, you may do so either in English,
or in English and Welsh. If notice is to be given bilingually, both
the person giving notice and the authorised person you see must be
able to understand the Welsh language. All registration authorities
in Wales have at least one Welsh speaking authorised person or
deputy.
Please allow 30 minutes for your appointment to give notice.
Documents to be produced at the time of Giving Notice
- All persons are required to produce evidence of their name and
surname. A current valid full passport, together with a birth
certificate, would be acceptable. If there is no passport then
two original identity documents must be produced, one of which must
be a birth certificate together with one of the following: a full
driving licence, medical card, payslips.
- Proof of residence must be produced for each person, i.e.,
utility bills/bank statements showing name and address.
- Persons from abroad are required to produce identity documents
e.g. passport, identity card, Home Office travel document.
- Persons under 18 years of age must submit written consent from
the appropriate parent/guardian/authority. The Civil Partnership
Registrar has forms for this purpose.
- Widowers, widows or surviving civil partners are required to
produce proof of death of their former spouse/civil partner, e.g.
death certificate certified by a Registrar.
- Divorced persons are required to produce a Decree Absolute
bearing an original court seal. Persons who have previously
registered a civil partnership that has been dissolved are required
to produce the legal documentation confirming this. If the
divorce/civil partnership took place in a foreign country, the
original documents should be produced and if applicable, an English
translation. Some foreign divorces/civil partnership require
clearance from the Registrar General and the Civil Partnership
Registrar can arrange this.
- If a name has been changed by Deed Poll or Statutory
Declaration, then these should be produced.
- Please Note: PHOTOCOPIES OF ANY DOCUMENTS ARE NOT
ACCEPTABLE
Foreign Nationals
All foreign nationals and their partners wishing to register
their civil partnership in England and Wales will be required to
attend a Designated Register Office to give their Notice of
intention. Persons subject to immigration control must satisfy
qualifying conditions before being able to register their civil
partnership, these include:
Entry clearance granted expressly for the purpose of enabling
them to register a civil partnership in the UK, or
- Written permission of the Secretary of State to register their
civil partnership in the UK in the form of a Certificate of
Approval, or
- Fall within a class specified for this purpose in regulations
made by the Secretary of State, e.g., has settled status, such as
indefinite leave to remain.
British nationals, EEA nationals, Swiss nationals, persons with
a certificate of entitlement of the right of abode,
diplomats/members of visiting armed forces and representatives of
the United Nations and other international organisations are not
subject to immigration control.
If you think you may be affected by the above, please contact
the Home Office on tel: 0870 606 7766, to ensure you have the
correct documentation to enable your preliminaries for the
registration to be taken.
Please ring your local Register Office for information regarding
your nearest Designated Register Office.
(N.B. There is no Designated Register Office within the Vale of
Glamorgan)