Civil Partnership Bill [HL]

House of Commons

Session 2002 - 03
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Other Bills before Parliament

Civil Partnership Bill [HL]

Civil Partnership Bill [HL]
Part 3 — Civil partnership: Scotland
Chapter 2 — Registration
42

90
Objections to registration
(1)
Any person may at any time before the registration in Scotland of two people
as civil partners of each other submit in writing an objection to such
registration to the district registrar.
(2)
But where the objection is that the intended civil partners are not eligible to be
5
in civil partnership with each other because either is incapable of
understanding the nature of civil partnership, it shall be accompanied by a
supporting certificate signed by a registered medical practitioner.
(3)
A person claiming that he may have reason to submit such an objection may,
free of charge and at any time when the registration office at which a notice of
10
proposed civil partnership to which the objection would relate is open for
public business, inspect any relevant entry in the civil partnership book.
(4)
Where the district registrar receives an objection in accordance with subsection
(1) he must—
(a)
in any case where he is satisfied that the objection relates to no more
15
than a misdescription or inaccuracy in a notice submitted under section
86(1)—
(i)
notify the intended civil partners of the nature of the objection
and make such enquiries into the matter mentioned in it as he
thinks fit, and
20
(ii)
subject to the approval of the Registrar General, make any
necessary correction to any document relating to the proposed
civil partnership, or
(b)
in any other case—
(i)
at once notify the Registrar General of the objection, and
25
(ii)
pending consideration of the objection by the Registrar General,
suspend the completion or issue of the civil partnership
schedule in respect of the proposed civil partnership.
(5)
If the Registrar General is satisfied, on consideration of an objection of which
he has received notification under subsection (4)(b)(i) that—
30
(a)
there is a legal impediment to registration, he must direct the district
registrar not to register the intended civil partners and to notify them
accordingly, or
(b)
there is no such impediment, he must inform the district registrar to
that effect.
35
(6)
For the purposes of this section and section 92, there is a legal impediment to
registration where the intended civil partners are not eligible to be in civil
partnership with each other.
91
Place of registration
(1)
Two people may be registered as civil partners of each other at a registration
40
office or any other place which they and the local registration authority agree
is to be the place of registration.
(2)
But the place must not be one where persons are known to meet for public
worship or one known to be regarded by persons of a religious faith as a place
of reverence.
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Civil Partnership Bill [HL]
Part 3 — Civil partnership: Scotland
Chapter 2 — Registration
43

(3)
“Local registration authority” has the meaning given by section 5(3) of the 1965
Act; and “known” means known to the local registration authority.
92
The civil partnership schedule
Where—
(a)
the district registrar has received a notice of proposed civil partnership
5
in respect of each of the intended civil partners and—
(i)
is satisfied that there is no legal impediment to their registration
as civil partners of each other, or
(ii)
as the case may be, is informed under section 90(5)(b) that there
is no such impediment,
10
(b)
the 14 days mentioned in paragraph (b) of section 88(2) have expired
(or as the case may be the date which, by virtue of section 89, that
paragraph is to be construed as a reference to has been reached), and
(c)
the period which has elapsed since the day of receipt of the notices by
him (or, if the two notices were not received on the same day, since the
15
day of receipt of the later) does not exceed 3 months,
he is to complete a civil partnership schedule in the prescribed form.
93
Further provision as to registration
(1)
Before the persons present sign in accordance with section 83 the authorised
registrar is to require the intended civil partners to confirm that (to the best of
20
their knowledge) the particulars set out in the civil partnership schedule are
correct.
(2)
As soon as practicable after the civil partnership schedule has been signed, the
authorised registrar must cause those particulars to be entered in a register (to
be known as the “civil partnership register”) supplied to him for that purpose
25
by the Registrar General.
(3)
The form and content of any page of that register is to be prescribed.
(4)
A fee payable by the intended civil partners for their registration as civil
partners of each other is to be prescribed.
94
Civil partnership with former spouse
30
(1)
Where an intended civil partner has a full gender recognition certificate issued
under section 5(1) of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (c. 7) and the other
intended civil partner was the other party in the proceedings in which the
certificate was issued, the procedures for their registration as civil partners of
each other may—
35
(a)
if they so elect, and
(b)
if each of them submits a notice under section 86(1) within 30 days after
the certificate is issued,

be expedited as follows.
(2)
The registration may take place on any of the 30 days immediately following—
40
(a)
that on which the notices are submitted, or
(b)
(if the two notices are not submitted on the same day) that on which the
later is submitted.

Civil Partnership Bill [HL]
Part 3 — Civil partnership: Scotland
Chapter 2 — Registration
44

(3)
And accordingly there are to be disregarded—
(a)
in section 88—
(i)
in subsection (2)(b), the words from “being” to the end, and
(ii)
subsection (3),
(b)
section 89, and
5
(c)
in section 92, paragraph (b).
95
Certificates of no impediment for Part 2 purposes
(1)
This section applies where—
(a)
two people propose to register as civil partners of each other under
Chapter 1 of Part 2, and
10
(b)
one of them (“A”) resides in Scotland but the other (“B”) resides in
England or Wales.
(2)
A may submit a notice of intention to register under section 86 as if A and B
intended to register as civil partners in the district in which A resides.
(3)
If the district registrar is satisfied (after consultation, if he considers it
15
necessary, with the Registrar General) that there is no impediment (in terms of
section 90(6)) to A registering as B’s civil partner, he must issue a certificate to
A in the prescribed form that there is not known to be any such impediment.
(4)
But the certificate may not be issued to A earlier than 14 days after the receipt
(as entered in the civil partnership notice book) of the notice under subsection
20
(2) unless—
(a)
the circumstances are as mentioned in section 94(1), and
(b)
A makes an election for the certificate to be issued as soon as possible.
(5)
Any person may, at any time before a certificate is issued under subsection (3),
submit to the district registrar an objection in writing to its issue.
25
(6)
Any objection made under subsection (5) must be taken into account by the
district registrar in deciding whether he is satisfied that there is no legal
impediment to A registering as B’s civil partner.
96
Application of certain sections of 1965 Act to civil partnership register
Sections 34 (examination of registers by district examiners), 37(1) and (2)
30
(search of indexes kept by registrars), 38(1) and (2) (search of indexes kept by
Registrar General) and 44 (Register of Corrections etc.) of the 1965 Act apply in
relation to the civil partnership register as they apply in relation to the registers
of births, deaths and marriages.
97
Correction of errors in civil partnership register
35
(1)
No alteration is to be made in the civil partnership register except as authorised
by or under this or any other Act (“Act” including an Act of the Scottish
Parliament).
(2)
Any clerical error in the register or error in it of a kind prescribed may be
corrected by the district registrar.
40
(3)
The Registrar General may authorise district examiners (“district examiner”
having the meaning given by section 2(1) of the 1965 Act) to correct any error

Civil Partnership Bill [HL]
Part 3 — Civil partnership: Scotland
Chapter 2 — Registration
45

in the register of a type specified by him which they discover during an
examination under section 34 of the 1965 Act.
98
Offences
(1)
A person (“A”) commits an offence who registers in Scotland as the civil
partner of another person (“B”) knowing that either or both—
5
(a)
A is already married to or in civil partnership with a person other than
B, or
(b)
B is already married to or in civil partnership with a person other than
A.
(2)
A person commits an offence who knowingly—
10
(a)
falsifies or forges any civil partnership document (that is to say, any
document issued or made, or purporting to be issued or made, or
required, under this Part),
(b)
uses, or gives or sends to any person as genuine, any false or forged
civil partnership document,
15
(c)
being an authorised registrar, purports to register two people as civil
partners of each other before any civil partnership schedule available to
him at the time of registration has been duly completed,
(d)
not being an authorised registrar, conducts himself in such a way as to
lead intended civil partners to believe that he is authorised to register
20
them as civil partners of each other,
(e)
being an authorised registrar, purports to register two people as civil
partners of each other without both of them being present, or
(f)
being an authorised registrar, purports to register two people as civil
partners of each other in a place other than a registration office or a
25
place agreed under section 91.
(3)
A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) or (2) is liable—
(a)
on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
2 years or to a fine (or both);
(b)
on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3
30
months or to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale (or both).
(4)
Summary proceedings for an offence under subsection (1) or (2) may be
commenced at any time within 3 months after evidence sufficient in the
opinion of the Lord Advocate to justify the proceedings comes to his
knowledge or within 12 months after the offence is committed (whichever
35
period last expires).
(5)
Subsection (3) of section 136 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995
(c. 46) (time limits) has effect for the purposes of this section as it has for the
purposes of that section.

Civil Partnership Bill [HL]
Part 3 — Civil partnership: Scotland
Chapter 3 — Occupancy rights and tenancies
46

Chapter 3
Occupancy rights and tenancies
Occupancy rights
99
Occupancy rights
(1)
Where, apart from the provisions of this Chapter, one civil partner in a civil
5
partnership is entitled, or permitted by a third party, to occupy a family home
of the civil partnership (that civil partner being referred in this Chapter as an
“entitled partner”) and the other civil partner is not so entitled or permitted (a
“non-entitled partner”), the non-entitled partner has, subject to the provisions
of this Chapter, the following rights—
10
(a)
if in occupation, a right to continue to occupy the family home;
(b)
if not in occupation, a right to enter into and occupy the family home.
(2)
The rights conferred by subsection (1) to continue to occupy or, as the case may
be, to enter and occupy the family home include, without prejudice to their
generality, the right to do so together with any child of the family.
15
(3)
In subsection (1), an “entitled partner” includes a civil partner who is entitled,
or permitted by a third party, to occupy the family home along with an
individual who is not the other civil partner only if that individual has waived
a right of occupation in favour of the civil partner so entitled or permitted.
(4)
If the entitled partner refuses to allow the non-entitled partner to exercise the
20
right conferred by subsection (1)(b), the non-entitled partner may exercise that
right only with the leave of the Court of Session or the sheriff under section
101(3) or (4).
(5)
A non-entitled partner may renounce in writing the rights mentioned in
paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) only—
25
(a)
in a particular family home, or
(b)
in a particular property which it is intended by the civil partners will
become their family home.
(6)
A renunciation under subsection (5) has effect only if, at the time of making the
renunciation, the non-entitled partner swears or affirms before a notary public
30
that it is made freely and without coercion of any kind.
(7)
In this Part—
“child of the family” means a child under the age of 16 years who has been
accepted by both civil partners as a child of the family, and
“family” means the civil partners in the civil partnership, together with
35
any child so accepted by them.
(8)
In subsection (6), “notary public” includes any person duly authorised, by the
law of the country other than Scotland in which the swearing or affirmation
takes place, to administer oaths or receive affirmations in that other country.
100
Occupancy: subsidiary and consequential rights
40
(1)
For the purpose of securing the occupancy rights of a non-entitled partner, that
partner is, in relation to a family home, entitled without the consent of the
entitled partner—

Civil Partnership Bill [HL]
Part 3 — Civil partnership: Scotland
Chapter 3 — Occupancy rights and tenancies
47

(a)
to make any payment due by the entitled partner in respect of rent,
rates, secured loan instalments, interest or other outgoings (not being
outgoings on repairs or improvements);
(b)
to perform any other obligation incumbent on the entitled partner (not
being an obligation in respect of non-essential repairs or
5
improvements);
(c)
to enforce performance of an obligation by a third party which that
third party has undertaken to the entitled partner to the extent that the
entitled partner may enforce such performance;
(d)
to carry out such essential repairs as the entitled partner may carry out;
10
(e)
to carry out such non-essential repairs or improvements as may be
authorised by an order of the court, being such repairs or
improvements as the entitled partner may carry out and which the
court considers to be appropriate for the reasonable enjoyment of the
occupancy rights;
15
(f)
to take such other steps, for the purpose of protecting the occupancy
rights of the non-entitled partner, as the entitled partner may take to
protect the occupancy rights of the entitled partner.
(2)
Any payment made under subsection (1)(a) or any obligation performed under
subsection (1)(b) has effect in relation to the rights of a third party as if the
20
payment were made or the obligation were performed by the entitled partner;
and the performance of an obligation which has been enforced under
subsection (1)(c) has effect as if it had been enforced by the entitled partner.
(3)
Where there is an entitled and a non-entitled partner, the court, on the
application of either of them, may, having regard in particular to the respective
25
financial circumstances of the partners, make an order apportioning
expenditure incurred or to be incurred by either partner—
(a)
without the consent of the other partner, on any of the items mentioned
in paragraphs (a) and (d) of subsection (1);
(b)
with the consent of the other partner, on anything relating to a family
30
home.
(4)
Where both partners are entitled, or permitted by a third party, to occupy a
family home—
(a)
either partner is entitled, without the consent of the other partner, to
carry out such non-essential repairs or improvements as may be
35
authorised by an order of the court, being such repairs or
improvements as the court considers to be appropriate for the
reasonable enjoyment of the occupancy rights;
(b)
the court, on the application of either partner, may, having regard in
particular to the respective financial circumstances of the partners,
40
make an order apportioning expenditure incurred or to be incurred by
either partner, with or without the consent of the other partner, on
anything relating to the family home.
(5)
Where one partner (“A”) owns or hires, or is acquiring under a hire-purchase
or conditional sale agreement, furniture and plenishings in a family home—
45
(a)
the other partner may, without the consent of A—
(i)
make any payment due by A which is necessary, or take any
other step which A is entitled to take, to secure the possession
or use of any such furniture and plenishings (and any such
payment is to have effect in relation to the rights of a third party
50
as if it were made by A), or

Civil Partnership Bill [HL]
Part 3 — Civil partnership: Scotland
Chapter 3 — Occupancy rights and tenancies
48

(ii)
carry out such essential repairs to the furniture and plenishings
as A is entitled to carry out;
(b)
the court, on the application of either partner, may, having regard in
particular to the respective financial circumstances of the partners,
make an order apportioning expenditure incurred or to be incurred by
5
either partner—
(i)
without the consent of the other partner, in making payments
under a hire, hire-purchase or conditional sale agreement, or in
paying interest charges in respect of the furniture and
plenishings, or in carrying out essential repairs to the furniture
10
and plenishings, or
(ii)
with the consent of the other partner, on anything relating to the
furniture or plenishings.
(6)
An order under subsection (3), (4)(b) or (5)(b) may require one partner to make
a payment to the other partner in implementation of the apportionment.
15
(7)
Any application under subsection (3), (4)(b) or (5)(b) is to be made within 5
years after the date on which any payment in respect of such incurred
expenditure was made.
(8)
Where—
(a)
the entitled partner is a tenant of a family home,
20
(b)
possession of it is necessary in order to continue the tenancy, and
(c)
the entitled partner abandons such possession,

the tenancy is continued by such possession by the non-entitled partner.
(9)
In this section “improvements” includes alterations and enlargement.
101
Regulation by court of rights of occupancy of family home
25
(1)
Where there is an entitled and a non-entitled partner, or where both partners
are entitled, or permitted by a third party, to occupy a family home, either
partner may apply to the court for an order—
(a)
declaring the occupancy rights of the applicant partner;
(b)
enforcing the occupancy rights of the applicant partner;
30
(c)
restricting the occupancy rights of the non-applicant partner;
(d)
regulating the exercise by either partner of his or her occupancy rights;
(e)
protecting the occupancy rights of the applicant partner in relation to
the other partner.
(2)
Where one partner owns or hires, or is acquiring under a hire-purchase or
35
conditional sale agreement, furniture and plenishings in a family home and the
other partner has occupancy rights in that home, that other person may apply
to the court for an order granting to the applicant the possession or use in the
family home of any such furniture and plenishings; but, subject to section 100,
an order under this subsection does not prejudice the rights of any third party
40
in relation to the non-performance of any obligation under such hire-purchase
or conditional sale agreement.
(3)
The court is to grant an application under subsection (1)(a) if it appears to the
court that the application relates to a family home; and, on an application
under any of paragraphs (b) to (e) of subsection (1) or under subsection (2), the
45
court may make such order relating to the application as appears to it to be just
and reasonable having regard to all the circumstances of the case including—