Commentary on Sections Part 2 – Civil Partnership: England and Wales.Introduction Chapter 1 – Registration Section 18: House-bound persons
37.This section caters for people who wish to register as civil partners of each other at the place where one of them is house-bound. A person will be accepted as being house-bound if, in relation to that person, a statement is made by a registered medical practitioner that, in his opinion, because of illness or disability, that person ought not to move from the place where he or she is at the time when the statement is made and that this is likely to be the case for at least the following 3 months. The statement must be made not more than 14 days before the day on which each notice of proposed civil partnership is recorded.
38.Subsection (3) sets out the procedure for a housebound person to register as a civil partner. This is the same as the standard procedure –(see sections 8 – 17) but with the additional requirements that a medical statement must accompany each notice; receipt of the medical statement is recorded in the register; and the applicable period (during which the civil partnership schedule may be signed) is shortened to 3 months.
39.For the purposes of forming a civil partnership,subsection (6) treats a person in relation to whom a medical statement is made as being resident and usually resident at the place where he or she is for the time being, even if this would not otherwise be the case.