Reasons For The Dissolution Of Partnership
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published a bulletin presenting annual statistics on civil partnerships that were formed in the United Kingdom in 2012. Key findings included the provisional number of civil partnerships in the UK in 2012 (7,037), an increase of 3.6 per cent since 2011, as well as the average age of men forming a civil partnership in the UK in 2012: 40. For women the average age was 37.6 years – both these figures represent a small decrease in average ages in comparison to 2011.
However, perhaps of more interest to divorce lawyers was the finding that the provisional number of civil partnership dissolutions granted in England and Wales in 2012 increased by 20 per cent since 2011, from 663 to 794.
Overall, 60,454 civil partnerships have been registered since 2005.
By the end of 2012, 3.2% of male civil partnerships in the England and Wales had ended in dissolution, while 6.1% of all female partnerships in England and Wales had ended in dissolution.
The ONS bulletin says that the rising number of dissolutions is a consequence of the increasing number of civil partners living in the UK, although many in the media saw the jump in dissolutions as having something to do with the proverbial ‘seven year itch’, civil partnerships having first become available in 2005.
So it seems that civil partnerships have begun to break up at a speed approaching the divorce rates of heterosexual couples. This should not really come as a surprise as people in a civil partnership will be facing the same issues and problems as those in a marriage. For further information or to discuss particular issues email Paul Prentice at paul@prenticefamilylaw.co.uk or telephone him at any time on 01483 237 989. Paul offers a free, no obligation first telephone appointment.