The Scottish Government recently published a Consultation document on the conversion of existing Civil Partnerships to marriage – we discuss some of the issues.
Until recently a same sex couple in Scotland could not marry. That law has now changed but in the meantime, and since 2005, many have taken the alternative route of Registered Civil Partnership.
The Scottish Government have just published a Consultation document on the conversion of existing Civil Partnerships to marriage so that committed Civil Partners can become married at last without the necessity of dissolving their Civil Partnership and remarrying.
It all sounds simple enough but there are potential problems for foreign couples or couples in which one party is from a Country which either does not recognise Civil Partnerships, does not recognise same sex marriage or does not recognise conversion.
For example, will property which comes in to the hands of either of the Civil Partners be matrimonial property if the couple later convert the Civil Partnership to marriage? If so, what then would happen to that property on divorce?
These are complex issues of law and policy. The couple should consider the broader legal effects of jurisdiction and recognition before embarking on what may seem, on the face of it, to be simply a good and sensible idea.
