Section 119: Effect of resumption of cohabitation in certain actions
230.Subsection (1) provides that the irretrievable breakdown of a civil partnership on grounds of desertion for a continuous two year period will not be taken to be established if, at the end of that two year period, the parties start living together again and do so at any time after the end of the three months which begin from the date the parties resumed living together. Subsection (2) provides that this is subject to section 118(2).
231.Subsection (3) provides that, when considering whether any period of desertion or non-cohabitation provided for in section 117(3)(b) to (d) is continuous, the court should not take account of any period or periods of time, not exceeding 6 months in total, in which the civil partners resumed cohabiting with one another. However (as a separate issue from whether the period is to be regarded as “continuous”) no such period of cohabitation can count as part of the period of non-cohabitation for the purposes of section 117(3). So for example, non-cohabitation for 2 years can be proved, even if the civil partners lived together for, say, 2 months during the relevant period, so long as the total period of non-cohabitation adds up to 2 years (excluding those 2 months).