Part 4

Civil partnership: Northern Ireland
Chapter 2

Dissolution, nullity and other proceedings

Dissolution of civil partnership

Supplemental provisions as to facts raising presumption of breakdown
169
1
Subsection (2) applies if—
a
in any proceedings for a dissolution order the applicant alleges, in reliance on section 168(5)(a), that the respondent has behaved in such a way that the applicant cannot reasonably be expected to live with the respondent, but
b
after the date of the occurrence of the final incident relied on by the applicant and held by the court to support his allegation, the applicant and the respondent have lived together for a period (or periods) which does not, or which taken together do not, exceed 6 months.
2
The fact that the applicant and respondent have lived together as mentioned in subsection (1)(b) must be disregarded in determining, for the purposes of section 168(5)(a), whether the applicant cannot reasonably be expected to live with the respondent.
3
Subsection (4) applies in relation to cases where the applicant alleges, in reliance on section 168(5)(b), that the respondent consents to a dissolution order being made.
4
Rules of court must make provision for the purpose of ensuring that the respondent has been given such information as will enable him to understand—
a
the consequences to him of consenting to the order, and
b
the steps which he must take to indicate his consent.
5
For the purposes of section 168(5)(d) the court may treat a period of desertion as having continued at a time when the deserting civil partner was incapable of continuing the necessary intention, if the evidence before the court is such that, had he not been so incapable, the court would have inferred that the desertion continued at that time.
6
In considering for the purposes of section 168(5) whether the period for which the civil partners have lived apart or the period for which the respondent has deserted the applicant has been continuous, no account is to be taken of—
a
any one period not exceeding 6 months, or
b
any two or more periods not exceeding 6 months in all,
during which the civil partners resumed living together.
7
But no period during which the civil partners have lived with each other counts as part of the period during which the civil partners have lived apart or as part of the period of desertion.
8
For the purposes of section 168(5)(b) and (c) and this section civil partners are to be treated as living apart unless they are living with each other in the same household, and references in this section to civil partners living with each other are to be read as references to their living with each other in the same household.