Commentary on Sections Part 5 – Civil partnerships formed or dissolved abroad etc.Introduction Chapter 2 – Overseas relationships treated as civil partnerships Section 217: Person domiciled in a part of the United Kingdom
426.This section ensures that, where an overseas relationship is registered by a person who is domiciled in England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, it cannot be treated as a civil partnership unless the couple would have been eligible to register as civil partners of each other in that part of the United Kingdom. Thus the overseas relationship will not be treated as a civil partnership if either party was under 16 at the time of registration, or if the parties are within the prohibited degrees of relationship applicable in the relevant part of the United Kingdom. Where either party was domiciled in Scotland, the overseas relationship will also not be treated as a civil partnership if either party was incapable of understanding the nature of civil partnership. These requirements are additional to the requirements that neither party is already a civil partner or lawfully married and that both parties are of the same sex (see sections 212 and 216).