Remedy
Start free

Section 139E: Referral of proposed civil partnership to the Secretary of State

Civil Partnership Act 2004 · 2004 c. 33View on legislation.gov.uk

Part 4: Civil partnership: Northern Ireland — Chapter 1: Registration

On every occasion when a civil partnership notice is given under section 139, a registrar must decide whether or not each of the parties to the proposed civil partnership is an exempt person.

In making a decision under subsection (1) about a party to a proposed civil partnership, a registrar may rely on any advice given in relation to that decision by the Secretary of State.

In a case where—

section 139A applies to the civil partnership notice, and
specified evidence required by section 139B(1) or (2) in relation to a party to the proposed civil partnership is not produced in accordance with that section,

the registrar must decide that that party to the proposed civil partnership is not an exempt person.

If the registrar decides that either of the parties is not an exempt person, or that both of the parties are not exempt persons, the registrar must—

refer the proposed civil partnership to the Secretary of State;
notify the parties to the proposed civil partnership that the proposed civil partnership must be referred to the Secretary of State;
give the parties to the proposed civil partnership prescribed information about—
the effects of the referral;
the requirement under regulations to notify the Secretary of State of changes of address.

The registrar must act in accordance with regulations when complying with the duty in subsection (4)(a) to refer a proposed civil partnership to the Secretary of State.

If the registrar refers the proposed civil partnership to the Secretary of State, this Act has effect in relation to the proposed civil partnership subject to the modifications in Schedule 13A.

In this section—

a reference to a person being an exempt person has the same meaning as in section 49 of the 2014 Act;
“prescribed information” means information prescribed in regulations;
“regulations” means regulations made by the Secretary of State under section 54(2) of, and Schedule 5 to, the 2014 Act.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.