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Section 178: Presumption of death orders

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

This provision is repealed
It is retained for historical reference and may not reflect the law currently in force.

Part 4: Civil partnership: Northern Ireland — Chapter 2: Dissolution, nullity and other proceedings

REPEALED on 2009-11-09 by Presumption of Death Act (Northern Ireland) 2009.

The text below is the provision as originally enacted. It is historical and may not include amendments made before this status change. View the enacted source.

The High Court may, on an application made by a civil partner, make a presumption of death order if it is satisfied that reasonable grounds exist for supposing that the other civil partner is dead.

In any proceedings under this section the fact that—

for a period of 7 years or more the other civil partner has been continually absent from the applicant, and
the applicant has no reason to believe that the other civil partner has been living within that time,

is evidence that the other civil partner is dead until the contrary is proved.

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.