Civil Partnership Act 2004

Chapter 1 S Formation and eligibility

85 Formation of civil partnership by registration S

(1) For the purposes of section 1, two people are to be regarded as having registered as civil partners of each other once each of them has signed the civil partnership schedule, in the presence of—

(a) each other,

(b) two witnesses both of whom have attained the age of 16, and

(c) the authorised registrar,

(all being present at a registration office or at a place agreed under section 93).

(2) But the two people must be eligible to be so registered.

(3) Subsection (1) applies regardless of whether subsection (4) is complied with.

(4) After the civil partnership schedule has been signed under subsection (1), it must also be signed, in the presence of the civil partners and each other by—

(a) each of the two witnesses, and

(b) the authorised registrar.

86 Eligibility S

(1) Two people are not eligible to register in Scotland as civil partners of each other if—

(a) they are not of the same sex,

(b) they are related in a forbidden degree,

(c) either has not attained the age of 16,

(d) either is married or already in civil partnership, or

(e) either is incapable of—

(i) understanding the nature of civil partnership, or

(ii) validly consenting to its formation.

(2) Subject to subsections (3) and (4), a man is related in a forbidden degree to another man if related to him in a degree specified in column 1 of Schedule 10 and a woman is related in a forbidden degree to another woman if related to her in a degree specified in column 2 of that Schedule.

(3) A man and any man related to him in a degree specified in column 1 of paragraph 2 of Schedule 10, or a woman and any woman related to her in a degree specified in column 2 of that paragraph, are not related in a forbidden degree if—

(a) both persons have attained the age of 21, and

(b) the younger has not at any time before attaining the age of 18 lived in the same household as the elder and been treated by the elder as a child of the elder’s family.

(4) A man and any man related to him in a degree specified in column 1 of paragraph 3 of Schedule 10, or a woman and any woman related to her in a degree specified in column 2 of that paragraph, are not related in a forbidden degree if—

(a) both persons have attained the age of 21, and

(b) in the case of—

(i) a man entering civil partnership with the father of his former wife, both the former wife and the former wife’s mother are dead,

(ii) a man entering civil partnership with the father of his former civil partner, both the former civil partner and the former civil partner’s mother are dead,

(iii) a man entering civil partnership with the former husband of his daughter, both the daughter and the daughter’s mother are dead,

(iv) a man entering civil partnership with the former civil partner of his son, both the son and the son’s mother are dead,

(v) a woman entering civil partnership with the mother of her former husband, both the former husband and the former husband’s father are dead,

(vi) a woman entering civil partnership with the mother of her former civil partner, both the former civil partner and the former civil partner’s father are dead,

(vii) a woman entering civil partnership with the former wife of her son, both the son and the son’s father are dead, or

(viii) a woman entering civil partnership with the former civil partner of her daughter, both the daughter and the daughter’s father are dead.

(5) Subsection (4) and paragraphs 2 and 3 of Schedule 10 have effect subject to the modifications specified in subsections (6) and (7) in the case of a person (here the “relevant person”) whose gender has become the acquired gender under the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (c. 7).

(6) Any reference in subsection (4) or those paragraphs to a former wife or former husband of the relevant person includes (respectively) any former husband or former wife of the relevant person.

(7) And the reference—

(a) in sub-paragraph (iii) of subsection (4)(b) to the relevant person’s daughter’s mother is to the relevant person’s daughter’s father if the relevant person is the daughter’s mother,

(b) in sub-paragraph (iv) of that subsection to the relevant person’s son’s mother is to the relevant person’s son’s father if the relevant person is the son’s mother,

(c) in sub-paragraph (vii) of that subsection to the relevant person’s son’s father is to the relevant person’s son’s mother if the relevant person is the son’s father, and

(d) in sub-paragraph (viii) of that subsection to the relevant person’s daughter’s father is to the relevant person’s daughter’s mother if the relevant person is the daughter’s father.

(8) References in this section and in Schedule 10 to relationships and degrees of relationship are to be construed in accordance with section 1(1) of the Law Reform (Parent and Child) (Scotland) Act 1986 (c. 9).

(9) For the purposes of this section, a degree of relationship specified in paragraph 1 of Schedule 10 exists whether it is of the full blood or the half blood.

(10) Amend section 41(1) of the Adoption (Scotland) Act 1978 (c. 28) (application to determination of forbidden degrees of provisions of that Act relating to the status conferred by adoption) as follows—

(a) after first “marriage” insert “ , to the eligibility of persons to register as civil partners of each other ”, and

(b) for “and incest” substitute “ , to such eligibility and to incest ”.