How do I end my civil partnership?

If your relationship has broken down irretrievably, then you can take steps to dissolve your civil partnership. 

To apply for a dissolution, you must have been in a civil partnership for at least one year. The partner wanting to dissolve the civil partnership is called the applicant. The only ground for a dissolution is that the relationship has irretrievably broken down.

The applicant must then rely on one of the following factors:

• Unreasonable behaviour, so that it is no longer considered reasonable for you to live with the other as civil partners; this can include having a sexual relationship with someone else, regardless of their gender
• Two years separation, with the consent from the respondent; written consent will be required for the court
• Five years separation
• Desertion

Once the application has been issued with the court and the respondent has confirmed that they will not be defending it, the next stage will be to apply for your ‘conditional order’, which is the middle stage of the dissolution. Following that, once 6 weeks have elapsed, you can apply for your final order. However, it is important to seek legal advice on the timing of any application for a final order due to the potential financial implications this could have.

Assuming there are no issues within your application, it typically takes around 6 months to complete the process.