There is a catchily titled bill going through Parliament at the moment called “The Civil Partnerships Marriages and Deaths (registration etc) Bill 2017 to 2019”.
Whilst the title is not necessarily going to grab the attention of most people, the content is relevant to our social history and could affect hundreds of thousands of men and women.
Lindsey Canning, head of family law at Wake Smith, looks at how this legislation could impact lives across the country.
She said: “There are two important suggested amendments to the registration of marriage certificates in this bill.
- The mother’s details will be included on the marriage certificate and;
- It is intended that there will be a move towards electronic registration.
“It has, of course, always been the case that only the father’s details are included on the marriage certificate of both the bride and groom and the mothers get no mention whatsoever.
“I would hope that there will still be a “signing of the register” as part of the marriage ceremony, but that afterwards, the marriage certificate details are intended to be electronically stored, as opposed to paper based, as they are at the moment.”
The other discussion in the bill regards civil partnerships.
Lindsey added: “It was headline news back in June 2018 when the Supreme Court decided to allow opposite sex civil partnerships.
“Subsequent progress has been made with a view to the Law being changed to allow opposite sex civil partnerships within six months of an act of Parliament being passed.
“It will be interesting to monitor the uptake of the opportunity to have opposite sex civil partnerships.
“When same sex marriages became legal, the uptake of same sex civil partnerships dropped dramatically.”
Finally, a stillbirth is a painful event for parents and the Government is looking at changing the registration of the birth and death and offering coroners the ability to investigate.
At the moment, a child who is stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy must, by Law, be formally buried or cremated. It is common that hospitals, where they can, arrange a funeral/burial or cremation for the parents at this traumatic time in their lives.
Lindsey said: “The registration of a stillborn baby is in the “stillbirth register” which is a process for recording both the birth, and the death, registration.
“The Government has been called upon for some time to amend the Law to allow the registration of stillbirths before the 24th week of pregnancy. This is still a matter for consultation as to how those arrangements ought to be best provided for.
“The current bill through Parliament is also suggesting that coroners should have the ability to investigate a stillbirth.
“The bill would enquire as to how arrangements could be made and the Law changed to enable coroners to investigate a stillbirth.
“In Northern Ireland this already exists in that coroners already have the jurisdiction to carry out an inquest on a child that had been capable of being born alive.
“All these are small, but significant, changes as our society continues to evolve.”
