Family law of UK (Marriage, Civil partnership, Cohabitation – living together, DIVORCE, Child custody, Child custody)

If you are planning a wedding, you’ll need to provide some documents and personal information beforehand. You need to let your council know in advance of your plans. You must also be aware of laws concerning immigration and your residency status.

It is a legal requirement to give notice in advance of marriage or civil partnership. Your notice is publicly displayed for fifteen days, after which the authority for your marriage or civil partnership can be granted. Each notice is valid for one year, but if you decide to change venue, new notices must be given.

If you are getting married in the Church of England or Church in Wales, then you do not usually have to give notice of marriage.

If you are having a civil marriage or civil partnership, you both need to go to your local register office to give notice. If you plan holding your marriage or civil partnership in a different area, you should also contact the local register office for that area before you give notice, to ensure that officials will be available on the day.

You both must give notice in person – no one else can do it on your behalf.

If you are giving notice in Wales, you may give this in English, or in English and Welsh. If notice is to be given bilingually, both the couple giving notice and the officer must be able to understand the Welsh language. All local authorities in Wales have at least one Welsh speaking officer or deputy.

Before you give notice, you should make sure that you are able to satisfy the laws concerning residency and immigration control.

You both need to have lived in the area in which you wish to give notice for at least seven full days, immediately before giving notice.

For example, if you arrive on Tuesday 1 March, the seven day period starts the following day, Wednesday 2 March, and is complete on Tuesday 8 March. You can then give notice on Wednesday 9 March.

This applies to all including those travelling from overseas for a marriage or civil partnership in England and Wales. Exceptions to this are listed below, but only if neither party are subject to immigration control:

• British or Commonwealth citizens are able to give notice in the country they are living in, provided that that country has signed up to the ‘British Subjects Facilities Acts 1915 and 1916’. You can find out which countries are eligible below. The other party must be a resident of England or Wales

Marriage certificates and registrations:

If you are already married and looking for a copy of your marriage certificate, you can order a copy through the register office or the religious building where your marriage took place.

The General Register Office (GRO) holds a central copy of all registrations for England and Wales. Local register offices also hold their own records of all events registered in their area.

The GRO has responsibility for England and Wales, and there are similar offices for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Same-sex couples can have their relationships legally recognised as ‘civil partnerships’.

Civil partners must be treated the same as married couples on a wide range of legal matters, including:

• tax, including Inheritance Tax
• employment benefits
• most state and occupational pension benefits
• income-related benefits, tax credits and child support
• their duty to provide reasonable maintenance for their civil partner and any children of the family
• ability to apply for parental responsibility for their civil partner’s child
• inheritance of tenancy agreements
• protection from domestic violence
• immigration and nationality purposes

How to register a civil partnership

In order to form a civil partnership you must first give notice of your plans. This involves letting a registration office know about your intention to register a civil partnership.

Once you’ve done that, notices are publicised by the registration authority for a period of 15 days, similar to marriage notices. A civil partnership can be formed in England and Wales at register offices or other approved locations. You can get a list of approved places from your local council.

The General Register Office has detailed information on how to go about forming a civil partnership.

There are over four million couples living together in England and Wales in cohabitation. Although cohabitants are now given legal protection in several areas, they and their families have significantly fewer rights and responsibilities than people who are married or who have formed a civil partnership.

Most people think that, after they’ve been living with their partner for a couple of years, they become ‘common law husband and wife’ with the same rights as married couples. This is not the case. In fact, couples who live together have hardly any of the same rights as married couples or civil partners.

There is no such thing as ‘common law marriage’.

If you are living together as a couple, there are steps you can take to protect yourself and your partner. There are also ways to minimise the legal and financial problems which may arise if, as can happen, you decide to separate, or if one of you dies.

You can find out about the current rights of cohabiting couples from Advice now – an independent website offering information on rights and legal issues. Their ‘Living Together’ campaign is intended to make both opposite and same-sex cohabitants more aware of their legal status. The campaign also provides advice on how to protect yourself and your family, should you wish to do so.

DIVORCE

Getting a divorce starts with a form called a ‘petition for divorce’, otherwise known as Form D8. You will need to fill in three copies; one for you, one for the court and one for your husband or wife.

Once you have filled in a petition, which you can get from a solicitor, some stationers, or the HM Courts Service website, take it to a divorce county court or to the Principal Registry of the Family Division in London.

On the form you’ll have to explain why you want a divorce. You cannot start divorce proceedings unless you have been married for one year.

The court will only grant you a divorce if a judge agrees that your marriage is at an end. The legal term for this is ‘irretrievably broken down’.

You must satisfy the court that one or more of the following is true as proof that your marriage is over:

• adultery by your husband or wife
• unreasonable behavior by your husband or wife (any behavior that means you find it impossible to live with them)
• desertion for a period of at least two years
• two years’ separation, if you both agree to the divorce
• five years’ separation, if there is no agreement to the divorce

Once you return your petition to the divorce county court you have started the divorce process. From now on you are legally known as ‘the petitioner’. Your husband or wife who you are divorcing is legally known as ‘the respondent’.

You will need to supply copies of your marriage certificate, details of any children involved and also the name and address of any person with whom your husband or wife has committed adultery if you wish to name them in the divorce proceedings as grounds for the divorce. They are known as ‘the co-respondent’.

Serving the petition

The courts will then post a copy of the petition to your husband or wife and any co-respondents named in your divorce petition. This is known as ‘serving the petition’. Your husband or wife then has eight days to acknowledge receipt of the petition. If they don’t do this, the court will contact you and ask for more details and, if necessary, arrange for a court official – known as a bailiff – to serve the petition in person.

Once the petition has been served, what happens next depends upon whether or not your husband or wife contests the divorce or agrees to it. You may be asked to provide more information by the court. If you have children then the court must examine and agree with arrangements made for the children. This includes who they are going to live with, where they are going to live and what contact they will have with the non-resident parent.

Decree Nisi

The next part of the divorce process is known as the ‘Decree Nisi’. This is the first stage of the actual divorce. It is granted only when a judge has reviewed all of the papers and is satisfied that there are proper grounds for a divorce. The judge will also check that all financial issues and arrangements for the children have been agreed or are in the process of being resolved. You may be required to attend court, but many divorces happen entirely by post.

Decree Absolute

The final stage of a divorce is called ‘the Decree Absolute’. You can apply for the Decree Absolute six weeks and one day after the Decree Nisi. If you don’t apply for the Decree Absolute, then your husband or wife as the respondent can apply for it, but only after a further three months have passed. When you receive the Decree Absolute, you are no longer married and are free to re-marry.

The court will only grant the Decree Absolute when the judge agrees that all arrangements for the children are now satisfactory. A judge can make a final financial order before the Decree Absolute is granted, but the order will only come into force after the decree has been made absolute.

Child custody

In the UK child custody law determines who should be responsible for the care and charge of a child, after divorce or separation. In the majority of cases parents opt for joint custody, which enables the child to spend an equal amount of time with each parent. This option also allows both parents to participate in any decision making which may affect the child. However, if parents are unable to amicably decide what living arrangement is best for their child, the courts will decide on their behalf.

Most bitter disputes between married couples end up in the divorce courts. Whilst this separation may affect the children most child custody law cases end amicably, with either agreed custody or joint custody as the outcome.

Access and maintenance payments from the non resident parent are also taken into consideration. In disputed cases each parent is individually assessed before a decision on which parent is given custody of the child, or children, is made.

Although child custody issues arise from divorce it is also a common concern in guardianship or any action that involves paternity rights. The best interests of the child are the standard that is emphasized in any issue directly involving children and their welfare and emotional needs.

If a couple separate or divorce there will be many things to consider. These will include how they divide their possessions, what to do with their home, shared finances and other equally important matters. If there are children, within the relationship, maintenance and child support will also become a consideration.

Responsibilities and Obligations

It is a parent’s responsibility and obligation to provide financial support for their children. This is accepted in the form of Child Support, which is paid to the parent the child will continue to live with. This could also be paid to other family members, grandparents or a legal guardian, if this is who the child or children live with.

Child Support payments are made to allow the parent with care to have sufficient funds to cover the costs of raising a child, and should be used to pay for educational and extracurricular activities, clothing, shelter and food.

Shared Care

The parent, who retains full-time responsibility for a child, is known as the parent with care and is entitled to receive maintenance from the parent who lives elsewhere. In some cases custody of the child is shared, and the child divides their time between both parents equally. Shared care is usually considered to be the best option for the child, as they will regularly get to benefit from spending time with each parent.

Property Distribution during Divorce

When dividing property during divorce a court will first determine if the property is marital or non-marital property. This can be a very complicated process and is dealt with according to your state’s laws..All property acquired by either spouse before the marriage is considered non-marital property. All property acquired after the marriage is considered property of the marriage or marital property. If the property is marital property then the court must “equitably” divide the property.

Just as marital home and other assets, marital debt is considered marital property and must be dealt with during the divorce process.

If you and your spouse are able to communicate and cooperate, it is possible to negotiate your own divorce settlement without the help of an attorney or mediator.

Being aware of the methods and resources used by attorneys and financial professionals when looking for hidden assets may help you avoid being victimized by a spouse or ex spouse who is hiding assets.

There are about thousands of laws in Bangladesh. Some of these laws are amended very often and a regular updating a completion has long been a problem. Usually ones a law is changes it is to be published a fresh with up-to-date amendment for the public and government use, once a law is amended the government published the gazette notification which outline the amendment only. But both for the public, Bar, Bench, various government departments and interest groups a copy of the after amendment version of the law is must. There is an authentic publication law in the country by law ministry, but it is not updated regularly.