- The Daily Telegraph article
- Reuters article
- Married couple win first round in 'civil partnerships' dispute (11/3/08)
- Civil partnerships down by 55% after first year (4/2/08)
- MPs vote in favour of general principles of 'gay marriage' Bill (13/10/04)
- 'Gay marriage' Bill changed to be less like marriage (24/6/04)
- Civil partnerships apologetic
Two elderly sisters have lost their battle to enjoy the same tax benefits as same-sex couples who register for civil partnerships.
Joyce Burden, 90, and her sister Sybil, 82, have lived together in the same house for years, caring for older family members and now for one another.
Concerned that when one of them dies the other will have to sell the house to cover inheritance duties, the sisters have campaigned for decades to have their relationship treated like a marriage for the purposes of tax law.
The Civil Partnership Act 2004 allows same-sex couples to register as civil partners, exempting them from inheritance tax. However, the Act prevents partnerships from being registered between close relatives.
Before the law was passed it was argued by The Christian Institute and others that it ought to be extended to allow long-term cohabiting family members to register as civil partners, in the same way as same-sex couples. This would have made civil partnerships fairer and less like 'gay marriage'.
The Institute placed a full-page advert in The Times newspaper in 2004 arguing for this (see the advert).
The plan was supported by 84 per cent of the public, and an amendment to include it in the new law was accepted by the House of Lords, but defeated in the Commons.