Town halls warned not to ‘intimidate’ civil partners
THE MP behind mixed-sex civil partnerships has warned town hall officials not to “intimidate” couples by branding their children “illegitimate”.
Tim Loughton, who sponsored the new civil partnerships act through Parliament, said requiring couples to reregister their children risked suggesting they were “second-class citizens”.
The Daily Telegraph revealed that couples applying to form a civil partnership were being told their existing children may have less inheritance rights than any future offspring if they are not re-registered.
Campaigners for mixed-sex couples have described the requirement under the Legitimacy Act as “stigmatising”.
Last night, the Ministry of Justice said legitimacy law had “very little impact on people’s everyday lives” and it had no plans to change it.
Mr Loughton said the “legal relic” went against the spirit of the new act, and called for a wider review of the law surrounding birth certificates.
“I am concerned if it appears that they [officials] are making it mandatory, and in some way suggesting that if you don’t do it, children born before civil partnership are in some way second-class citizens,” he said.
“I think this is slightly intimidating.” Parents of a newborn child are legally required to register the birth within 42 days, but the Legitimacy Act requires them to re-register the birth if they subsequently get married.
“I am amazed that not once did it come up in all the meetings and all the advice we had from civil servants,” said the East Worthing and Shoreham MP.
Today is the first occasion on which mixed-sex couples can form a civil partnership, after the law was changed in the previous parliament.
Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan, whose five-year legal battle precipitated the change, are among those planning a ceremony.