The Gender Recognition Register (Marriage and Civil Partnership) Regulations 2015

Qualifying marriages of same sex couples

8.—(1) Unless the parties to the qualifying marriage specifically request the Registrar General to do so, the Registrar General must not register in the Gender Recognition Marriage Register any of the particulars required by regulations 6(1) or 7 if to do so would indicate that a marriage of a same sex couple was entered into before the date on which the marriage could have been entered into under the 2013 Act.

(2) If, by virtue of the prohibition in paragraph (1), the Registrar General is unable to register the date on which the qualifying marriage took place, the marriage is to be registered as if it had been entered into on the date on which it is registered in the Gender Recognition Marriage Register, and, except as mentioned in paragraphs (3) and (4), the particulars to be recorded (including particulars relating to the superintendent registrar and registrar) must be those applicable on that date.

(3) Where paragraph (2) applies—

(a) the condition(1) of each of the parties is to be registered in the Gender Recognition Marriage Register as it was before they married (or, in the case of a marriage resulting from the conversion of a civil partnership, before they formed the civil partnership), using the forms of words prescribed under section 55(1) of the Marriage Act 1949 on the applicable date (but see regulation 6(2));

(b) the witnesses to the marriage are to be recorded in the Gender Recognition Marriage Register as they were in the parties’ marriage register entry (or, in the case of a marriage resulting from the conversion of a civil partnership, in their civil partnership register entry); and

(c) subject to paragraph (4) and regulations 9 and 10, the place at which the qualifying marriage was entered into is to be registered in the Gender Recognition Marriage Register as it was in the parties’ marriage register entry (or, in the case of a marriage resulting from the conversion of a civil partnership, in their civil partnership register entry).

(4) If the place required to be registered under paragraph (3)(c) is a place at which, on the date of registration in the Gender Recognition Marriage Register, the parties’ marriage could not be solemnized under the law of England and Wales, the marriage is to be registered as if it had been solemnized in the presence of a superintendent registrar in a register office in the form prescribed on the applicable date under section 55(1) of the Marriage Act 1949.

(5) Nothing in this regulation affects the continuity of any qualifying marriage.

(1)

“Condition” means marital or civil partnership status prior to the marriage (or civil partnership), and is registered using forms of words prescribed under section 55(1) of the Marriage Act 1949.