Regulation 12 Legitimacy of children of civil partners

(1)

The Legitimacy Act 1976^f1 is amended as follows.

(2)

Before section 1^f2 insert—

“Legitimacy of children of civil partners

A1.

(1)
A child is legitimate by virtue of a civil partnership between the natural parents of the child if, had the civil partnership been a marriage (and all other circumstances were the same), the child would have been legitimate at common law by virtue of the marriage.

(2)
The presumption of common law that a child born to a woman during her marriage to a man is also the natural child of her spouse applies equally in relation to a child born to a woman during her civil partnership with a man.”.

(3)

In section 1—

(a)

in the heading, “after “void marriages” insert “and civil partnerships”;

(b)

in subsection (1)—

(i)

after “void marriage” insert “or a void civil partnership”;

(ii)

after “celebration of the marriage” insert “, or the formation of the civil partnership,”;

(iii)

after “that the marriage” insert “or civil partnership”;

(c)

in subsection (3), after “marriage” insert “or civil partnership”;

(d)

in subsection (4)—

(i)

after “a child” insert “of a void marriage”;

(ii)

after “Family Law Reform Act 1987,” insert “or a child of a void civil partnership (whenever born),”;

(iii)

after “void marriage” insert “or civil partnership”;

(iv)

after “celebration of the marriage” insert “, or the formation of the civil partnership,”;

(v)

after “that the marriage” insert “or civil partnership”.

(4)

In section 2^f3—

(a)

in the heading, after “marriage” insert “or civil partnership”;

(b)

after “marry” insert “or become civil partners of”;

(c)

after “marriage”, in the first place it occurs (after the heading), insert “or civil partnership”;

(d)

after “date of marriage” insert “or the date of the formation of the civil partnership”;

(e)

for “date of the marriage” substitute “that date”.

(5)

In section 3^f4, in subsection (1)—

(a)

after “marry” insert “or become civil partners of”;

(b)

after “marriage”, in each place it occurs, insert “or civil partnership”.

(6)

In Schedule 1—

(a)

in paragraph 4, after sub-paragraph (3) insert—

“(4)
Section 1 does not affect any matter referred to in sub-paragraph (2) or (3) so far as it applies to a child of a void civil partnership.”;

(b)

after paragraph 5 insert—

“5A.

Nothing in this Act, except for section 2A, legitimates a person born before the date on which the Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) Regulations 2019 came into force by virtue of a civil partnership formed by the person’s parents before that date.”.

Annotations

Footnotes

f1: 1976 c. 31.
f2: Section 1 was amended by the Family Law Reform Act 1987 (c. 42), sections 28 and 34; and S.I. 2014/560, 3168.
f3: Section 2 was amended by S.I. 2014/560.
f4: Section 3 was amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (c. 22), Schedule 6, paragraph 17 and S.I. 2014/560.