Opposite-sex civil partnerships to become available from the end of 2019

The House of Lords approved the Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) Regulations 2019 on Tuesday, before Parliament was dissolved for the General Election. This new piece of legislation means that opposite-sex couples in England & Wales will in future have the option of registering their union as a civil partnership instead of a marriage, starting from 31 December this year. Nonetheless, for now only same-sex couples will be able to convert a civil partnership into a marriage, although a consultation on conversion rights is currently underway. The Supreme Court ruled last year that restricting civil partnerships to same-sex couples breached human rights.