Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Legal Aid (Assessment of Resources) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005 and shall come into operation on 5th December 2005.
Interpretation
2. In these Regulations “the principal regulations” means the Legal Aid (Assessment of Resources) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1981(1).
Amendment to the principal regulations
3. In regulation 1(2) of the principal regulations after the definition of “child” there shall be inserted—
““civil partner” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004(2);”
4. In regulation 7(1), 7(2), 7(2)(i) and 7(2)(ii) of the principal regulations after each instance of the word “spouse” there shall be inserted the words “or civil partner”.
5. In regulation 7(3) of the principal regulations after the words “parties to a marriage” there shall be added the words “or civil partnership”.
6. In paragraph 5 of Schedule 1 to the principal regulations after the word “spouse” there shall be inserted the words “or civil partner”.
7. In paragraph 9(3) of Schedule 1 to the principal regulations for the words “his or her spouse” there shall be substituted the words “his or her spouse or civil partner”.
8. In paragraph 11(1) of Schedule 1 to the principal regulations for the words “spouse of the person concerned, if the spouses” there shall be substituted the words “spouse or civil partner of the person concerned, if the spouses or civil partners”.
9. In paragraph 11(1)(a) of Schedule 1 to the principal regulations after the word “spouse” there shall be inserted the words “or civil partner”.
10. In paragraph 12 of Schedule 1 to the principal regulations for the words “a spouse who is living apart, of a former spouse” there shall be substituted the words “a spouse or civil partner who is living apart, of a former spouse or former civil partner”.
Signed by authority of the Lord Chancellor
Bridget Prentice
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State,
Department for Constitutional Affairs
Dated 1st November 2005
We approve
Gillian Merron
Tom Watson
Two of the Lord’s Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury
Dated 9th November 2005