NSW Getting Divorced from UK Civil Partnership in Australia

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LukeyG

Member
8 December 2017
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My EX and I had a Same Sex civil partnership at the UK embassy in Sydney in 2011(i'm a duel citizen). We broke up a while ago and have had trouble getting a divorce. The problem was the UK courts wouldn't do it as neither of us were UK residents for 6 months, which the courts over there required.

Now that we have Same Sex Marriage, we'd be able to get a divorce in Australia. BUT I'm not sure if we have to convert the Civil Partnership to Marriage first. Would this be the case? or would the Australian government just recognise the CP as marriage and process divorce from there?
 

sammy01

Well-Known Member
27 September 2015
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how long were you in a defacto? Sorry, I just don't think anyone here is gonna be able to answer especially given that the laws are not fully functioning yet. I'd have thought a defacto asset division is all that is required. I don't think you guys need to get divorced because you're not legally married.
 

LukeyG

Member
8 December 2017
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We were in a defecto for 3 Year’s. It’s a bit of a weird one, we broke up 5 Year’s ago.
The UK civil partnership is a special gay only marriage, which requires a full on divorce (they call it dissolution). It’s as binding as marriage just not the same thing. So not sure how our government is going to recognise it.
We don’t want any division of assets etc, just to finalise it.
 

AllForHer

Well-Known Member
23 July 2014
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On reading the Bill, I'm of the understanding that since civil partnerships come with all the same rights and protections (and divorce requirements) as marriage, it's likely to be recognised as a same sex marriage under the new Australian law, so you shouldn't need to "formalise" it. The new laws come into effect on 8 January, I believe, so you should be able to get some legal advice about that soon enough.
 

Claudia1977

Member
25 January 2019
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Hi everyone,

I am in he same predicament which is driving me a little crazy. I entered into a civil partnership with my ex in 2007 in the UK. We moved to Australia and split in 2011. I have tried to annul my civil partnership three times with no luck they keep sending the forms back for small mistakes. It’s hard seeking a lawyer that has expertise in this field also. I am now resident in Victoria and still haven’t managed to annul my CV even though we have been separated 7 years....

Any ideas anyone??

Thanks
 

LukeyG

Member
8 December 2017
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I still haven't sorted this. As far as Australia goes, it's not recognised as anything but defacto (if you want it to). So I can get married if I want without an issue, it would only be bigamy in the UK.
So I'm just waiting until my next UK trip, and i'll do it then. It's so annoying trying by distance.
 

Claudia1977

Member
25 January 2019
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I was thinking the same in terms of getting married again here. Didn’t want to break the law or commit bigamy by just leaving the civil union as it was, wasn’t certain the civil union would trump an Australian same sex marriage. Just concerned in case the ex re-appears and contests my will...wanted my partner’s assets to be safe.
 

Chorn

Member
31 October 2019
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Hello everyone, I know this thread is a bit old, but just seen this after months of searching for advice on this exact same situation. Lawyers here say talk to a UK lawyer, and UK Lawyers say talk to them here {facepalm}

I was thinking about just converting the CP at the UK embassy to a marriage. We would receive a backdated marriage certificate; I am hoping we could use that to divorce with here?

Has anyone tried this? It would be an addition cost on top of the cost to divorce, but a waste of money of it fails.

Being driven mad with this.

Thanks!
 

LukeyG

Member
8 December 2017
4
0
1
Hello everyone, I know this thread is a bit old, but just seen this after months of searching for advice on this exact same situation. Lawyers here say talk to a UK lawyer, and UK Lawyers say talk to them here {facepalm}

I was thinking about just converting the CP at the UK embassy to a marriage. We would receive a backdated marriage certificate; I am hoping we could use that to divorce with here?

Has anyone tried this? It would be an addition cost on top of the cost to divorce, but a waste of money of it fails.

Being driven mad with this.

Thanks!
This will 100% work, Australia will recognise the marriage, and you can divorce via Australian courts instead, as we recognise UK marriages. I was going to to do this, but my ex and I decided we never wanted to assume we were married. Plus you also risk legal issues as the second its changed, you're entitled to each others assets under Australian law.

I'm personally just going to wait until i have a decent holiday back in the UK to do it there.