Article 7 Parental etc. consent where the proposed civil partner is under 18
Where either proposed civil partner is under the age of 18, and the proposed civil partners have elected that for the purposes of article 5(3)(f) the part of the United Kingdom which shall be the relevant part for the civil partnership registration is either England and Wales or Northern Ireland, then, save in the case of an election in respect of England and Wales where the proposed civil partner under the age of 18 is a surviving civil partner or a widow or widower, the written consent of the appropriate persons is required to be given to the civil partnership officer before a person under the age of 18 and another person may register as civil partners of each other. Identification of appropriate persons shall be determined in accordance with sections 4 and 145 of, and Schedules 2 and 13 to, the Act as the law on appropriate persons to give consent is applied thereby to England and Wales and Northern Ireland respectively.
Where the consent of appropriate persons is required under this article, the necessary declaration under article 5(4) must also state in relation to each appropriate person that that person’s consent has been obtained or state that no person exists whose consent is required to a civil partnership between the proposed civil partner under 18 and another person.
The Secretary of State may dispense with the requirement to obtain consent if he is satisfied that it cannot be obtained because of the absence, inaccessibility or disability of the person whose consent is so required.
On request by personal attendance of any person whose consent is required, the civil partnership officer shall produce the notice given under article 5(1). Such person may forbid the formation of the civil partnership referred to in the notice at any time before the proposed civil partners have registered as civil partners of each other by writing the word “forbidden” upon the notice, together with his name and address and a statement of his capacity so to forbid. If forbidden, the notice and all proceedings on it shall be void.
Nothing in this section affects any need to obtain the consent of the High Court before a ward of court and another person may register as civil partners of each other.