Wills Should Still Be On The Agenda For Same Sex Couples

Jersey's new civil partnership law will not replace the need for same sex couples to prepare wills to safeguard their inheritance. The law, which was approved by the States on 12 July, creates a new legal relationship: that of a 'civil partner', which carries mutual rights and obligations to one's civil partner akin to marriage. This new relationship can only be created or ended by certain formalities in the same way as marriage. The law provides for such a relationship only between two people of the same sex, and therefore cannot be used by a heterosexual couple who do not wish to marry.

Apart from the creation, and therefore recognition, of this new relationship between a couple of the same sex the next most significant effect in the context of family law is that the new law provides for financial obligations between the civil partners both during and after the end of the relationship and for the support of any children of the family. Careful advice should be sought