In a major change to family law, the Supreme Court has today ruled that a heterosexual couple should be able to enter into a civil partnership, which is currently only available to same-sex couples.

The move is welcomed by a leading South West family lawyer, who goes on to call for further reform of family law, which they feel has not kept pace with the development of modern families.

Today (Wednesday, 27 June) the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favour of Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan from London in their bid to be allowed to have a civil partnership. Campaigners hope this will push the government to reform the law sooner rather than later.

Sarah Atkinson, partner in the family law team at Stephens Scown LLP in Truro said: “Civil partnerships were created in 2004 to allow gay couples to formalise their relationship to give rise to the same legal rights as married couples in terms of financial claims after separation.

“Then later it was considered discriminatory that gay couples couldn’t marry and since March 2014 they have had the choice of marriage or civil partnership.  It was thought this might make civil partnerships redundant and the government considered whether to abolish them or to widen civil partnerships to be available to all, recognising then that it would be discriminatory not to.  Despite that recognition they decided to wait and see how the public responded to the change.

“As it turns out there are still many couples who would rather enter into a civil partnership than get married, because they don’t feel aligned with the institution of marriage.

Commenting on the need for further reform Sarah added: “Today’s ruling is a welcome change and demonstrates the courts keeping pace with shifts in societal attitudes. Now it is over to government to ensure the law no longer discriminates against heterosexual couples.  However, even after this change it will still leave couples who do not choose to enter into a civil partnership or marriage vulnerable in terms of a real lack of financial rights if their relationship breaks down. With millions of cohabiting couples and families in the UK, there are a lot of people who have very little legal protection and in my view, it is time the law kept up.”

Stephens Scown’s family team has received top ranking from independent legal guides Chambers UK and Legal 500. To contact Sarah, please call 01872 265100 or email family.truro@stephens-scown.co.uk