If you decide to register a civil partnership these are the formal steps you have to follow:

1. Give notice in person of your intention to register a civil partnership. This costs £30 per person. You do this at your local Register Office, even if you plan to register your partnership elsewhere. Both of you have to have lived in England or Wales for a full seven days before you give notice on the eighth day.

2. The Superintendent Registrar (or Registrar in Northern Ireland) will give you permission to register your civil partnership in any Register Office or other approved location in any district.

3. You must give notice of where the registration of the civil partnership is to take place.

4. You can register your civil partnership fifteen days after giving notice of your intention to do so.

5. If you do not register your civil partnership within 12 months of giving notice, the permission will lapse and you will have to start the process again from step 1.

Information required for giving notice of intention to register a civil partnership

1. You and your partner's name and nationality (ideally in the form of your passports).

2. Your dates of birth.

3. Evidence of your address.

4. The name and occupation of both you and your partner’s father’s name and his occupation (it is possible to leave this section blank if you do not have the information).

5. Proof that you are free to register a civil partnership, if one or both of you has previously been married or civil partnered. This can be a death certificate of your former spouse or civil partner, a divorce decree absolute or a final order of dissolution of a civil partnership.

Further information:

More information on how to register a civil partnership can be found on the General Register Office website.

Get Hitched – A guide to civil partnership produced by Stonewall can be found here.

A guide on civil partnerships produced by the Women & Equality Unit can be found here.

Advicenow's guide Civil Partnership & Living Together can be found here.

The full text of the Civil Partnership Act can be read here.

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The Nuffield Foundation and the Department for Constitutional Affairs supported One Plus One's development of material for married or not. The legal information on this site was checked by Sarah Forster, with assistance from Diane McBrinn.