Section 1 Legitimacy of children of certain void marriages and civil partnerships.F14

The child of a void marriage F1or a void civil partnership, whenever born, shall, subject to subsection (2) below and Schedule 1 to this Act, be treated as the legitimate child of his parents if at the time of F2the insemination resulting in the birth or, where there was no such insemination, the child’s conception(or at the time of the celebration of the marriageF3, or the formation of the civil partnership, if later) both or either of the parties reasonably believed that the marriage F4or civil partnership was valid.

This section only applies where—

It is hereby declared for the avoidance of doubt that subsection (1) above applies notwithstanding that the belief that the marriage F7or civil partnership was valid was due to a mistake as to law.

In relation to a child F8of a void marriage born after the coming into force of section 28 of the Family Law Reform Act 1987, F9or a child of a void civil partnership (whenever born), it shall be presumed for the purposes of subsection (1) above, unless the contrary is shown, that one of the parties to the void marriage F10or civil partnership reasonably believed at the time of the insemination resulting in the birth or, where there was no such insemination, the child’s conception (or at the time of the celebration of the marriageF11, or the formation of the civil partnership, if later) that the marriage F12or civil partnership was valid.

Subsections (1) and (4) are to be read, in relation to the child of a void marriage which has resulted from the purported conversion of a civil partnership under section 9 of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 and regulations made under that section, as if the reference to the time of the celebration of the marriage was a reference to the date of the purported conversion of the civil partnership into a marriage.