Civil Partnership Laws commence on Monday, support services company Three-Sixty have warned financial advisers about far-reaching advice implications, as around 275,000 gay and lesbian couples will form legal partnerships from December this year. The first same sex legal partnerships will take place on December 21st, which is the first date that couples can get married because of the 15 days notice required for a ceremony.
The company have said that the first advice issue will be the need to re-examine life cover that many couples have taken out to meet the cost of any inheritance tax liabilities, because inheritance between spouses is exempt as the legislation has been changed to refer to ‘spouse or civil partner’ in the Civil Partnership Act. They believe that the regulators will expect independent financial advisers to take account of these changes if they are reviewing the financial affairs of same-sex couples.
Our view
All singles, couples and even 'threesomes' (if that is your preference) should review their finances regularly irrespective of who your preferred partner may be.
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