Getting married or registering a civil partnership

At the moment there is no provision in law for civil partnership conversions for opposite sex couples.

Same Sex couples who registered their civil partnership in England and Wales can convert their civil partnership to a marriage. This includes all civil partnerships registered according to the law of England and Wales (including those registered in a consul or armed forces base overseas). For specific guidance on converting a Civil Partnership please see the GOV.UK website.

Converting a civil partnership to marriage

There are two ways to convert a civil partnership into a marriage:

• a simple administrative process called a 'standard conversion'
• a two-stage process where the conversion is followed by a ceremony

The standard conversion

This is a simple administrative process where you will both attend an appointment at any register office and complete a declaration with details about you and your civil partnership. The documents you will need to produce include:

• proof of your names and dates of birth - current passports or birth certificates
• proof of your address - recent council tax or utilities bill
• an original civil partnership certificate

A legal declaration will be drawn up for you to both sign with the superintendent registrar.

You can also choose to say the declaration wording aloud to one another before signing the conversion document. Your marriage is then registered and a marriage certificate will be issued.

This service is free of charge for all those who entered into a civil partnership in England and Wales before 29 March 2014 and wish to convert your civil partnership to a marriage before 10 December 2015. There is a charge of £12.50 for each marriage certificate ordered before the conversion.

A conversion followed by a ceremony

There are two stages to this type of conversion. The first part is where you will both need to attend an appointment at any register office and complete a declaration with details about you and your civil partnership (as above).

The signing of the declaration can be followed by a ceremony at any of the following venues:

• Register office
• Approved premises
• Religious buildings registered for the marriage of same sex couples
• Premises where a ceremony according to the Jewish faith of the Society of Friends is to immediately follow the conversion

There are fees applicable to this service, which will vary according to the date and venue of the ceremony.

For further information about civil partnership conversions please contact the Registration Service by email: RegisterOffice@southend.gov.uk or telephone 01702 215009.