Same sex families and civil partnerships

At Penningtons Manches Cooper, our highly ranked family law team has an outstanding reputation for advising same-sex families, both in relation to financial issues and arrangements for children. We provide an individual and discreet service designed to promote agreement, maintain the privacy of the family, and ensure a favourable resolution for all parties involved.

Tailored solutions for same-sex families

Our specialists can advise same-sex families on all aspects of family law, and we have particular expertise in advising international families who are seeking to relocate to or from the UK. We can assist with the recognition of foreign same-sex relationships in the UK and with the registration of civil partnerships abroad. We work frequently with lawyers from other countries and are able to provide advice to families seeking to dissolve or annul foreign same-sex relationships.

The team, which is based in London, Oxford, Reading and Guildford, has vast experience of drafting cohabitation agreements and civil partnership agreements, including those that are designed to be enforceable in multiple jurisdictions.

The team at Penningtons Manches Cooper has provided trusted and insightful advice and has sensitively helped with some difficult decisions.

We advise both biological and non-biological parents in relation to parental responsibility, residence and contact, in the context of same-sex families. We also advise prospective parents considering donor insemination, surrogacy, and adoption, and can draft agreements to regulate such arrangements.

Every family is different, and our strength lies in our ability to bring our vast range of experience to bear to provide individual solutions, tailored to each family’s particular needs.

We offer an online system that can help our clients to understand their legal position, prepare for their first meeting, and provide us with the information required to maximise the value we can deliver. We invite you to get started online.

How we help our clients

Cohabitation and civil partnership agreements

Recognition of foreign same-sex relationships

Registering civil partnerships abroad

Dissolution of civil partnerships

Dissolution or annulment of same-sex relationships

Financial remedies for same-sex families

Parental responsibility for biological and non-biological parents

Donor insemination, surrogacy and adoption

International movement of children

Mediation, collaborative law and arbitration

The family team is excellent and their responsiveness is wonderful.

‘A joined up, thoughtful and careful approach is embedded through the culture at Penningtons, which I think shows in their reputation and results.

Recent work highlights

Mother and child relocation

Successfully acting for a lesbian mother in relation to an application to relocate with her child to her country of origin, which was opposed by the biological father.

Nullity proceedings

Advising a prominent individual in nullity and financial proceedings, where the fact of his homosexuality helped establish that the marriage had no substance, thereby reducing the wife’s financial entitlement.

Same-sex marital agreement

Drawing up a detailed international marital agreement for a client who had arranged to have a same-sex marriage in the Netherlands.

Same-sex pre-nuptial agreement

Drawing up a detailed pre-nuptial agreement for an individual before marrying, involving a very careful presentation of the family’s dynastic wealth to ensure that the ‘fairness’ criteria could still be met.

Couple’s surrogacy journey

Acting on behalf of the intended parents in respect of their international surrogacy arrangement, where one parent was UK domiciled and the other US domiciled.