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Civil Partnerships

Civil Partnerships

If you want to end your civil partnership, you will need to apply to the Court for a Dissolution Order. This is achieved in the same way as getting a divorce.

If your partner agrees to the dissolution of your civil partnership, the Court will look at the papers and make a Conditional Order of Dissolution. The dissolution will be made final six weeks from the date of the Conditional Order.

If you wish to separate from your partner but do not want to dissolve your civil partnership (or it has been less than a year since you registered your civil partnership), you can apply to the Court for a Separation Order.

You do not have to wait for a year after registering your civil partnership before you can apply for a Separation Order and you don't have to have been living apart from your partner first.  However, neither of you will be free to register another civil partnership (or to marry) until you obtain a Dissolution Order.

If you obtain a Separation Order and you want to apply for a Dissolution Order later on, there is nothing to prevent you from doing this. You will be able to use the same evidence that you used to obtain the Separation Order so you won't have to prove the same facts all over again.