Civil partnership

[MarleneH]

Hi all
has anyone ever had a civil partnership? If so, what’s the cheapest you can do it for??

me and partner of 12 years are looking to do this. But want it as basic as they come I.e no guests and want to keep costs to the bare minimum.

many thanks x

If you literally want to just make an appointment at the register office and sign the papers, I think it's about £45.

Thanks, and is this legally sufficient ? Many thanks

I live in Scotland. I think we had to pay to give notice, and then you pay for the actual registration, and for the certificate. It's about £150 total. We also paid for the registrar to come out to our house and do it there, but you wouldn't need to do that. In England, I'm not sure if there is a fee to give notice, but you'll have to prove you're connected to the area you're planning to register your civil partnership in. Then you pay for the actual registration itself (which is the bit that costs about £45). This is just the legal bit - the expensive bit of either marriages or civil partnerships is the celebration.

It's still a wedding no matter how small, isn't a civil partnership for same sex couples?

both single sex and missed sex couples can choose to have either a wedding or civil partnership
I guess some people prefer a civil partnership because it doesn't have the patriarchal elements of a marriage ceremony?
but civil partnerships are definitely no longer just a marriage alternative for same sex couples

You have to give notice at least 28 days before, which is £35 each and we're paying £45 for our statutory ceremony which is just us and two witnesses.

If you look up your local register office they should have prices on their website. Ours only do the statutory ceremonies one day a week, it took around four months for them to have availability.

Sorry, that's for a marriage.

The difference with a civil ceremony is you don't say vows, you just sign papers. With a simple marriage ceremony you say the lawful wedding vows and are only allowed to have 2 witnesses, no additional guests allowed.

You just need to have a look at your council website. All the information should be on there. You pay about £40 each to 'give notice ' and then about another £40 between you for the actual ceremony.

You CAN have a big fancy civil partnership for more money if you want it, but that is obviously more costly. For the basic version, you just need to bring 2 witnesses along.

You definitely can be a mixed sex couple to form a civil partnership despite what someone said further up the thread. We ( M/ F couple) are having ours in a few weeks time - really looking forward to it!

It was me that asked if a civil partnership was for same sex couples. It was originally but has included opposite sex couples since 2019. Apparently, you aren't legally allowed to call each other husband and wife. You are known as civil partners. I didn't know this, but because I will be getting married soon in a very small ceremony (us plus 2 witnesses) I panicked and had to check that I hadn't accidentally booked a civil partnership (I hadn't luckily).

Best of luck Hun! Hope you and your partner have a lovely day. X

We had our civil partnership yesterday & had a lovely day. Popped into the Registry Office & signed the paperwork with our 2 witnesses. Took a few pictures on our phones & then went for a lovely long lunch. A perfect day for us!