I am a British National now living in Thailand with a 1yr retirement visa and my Thai partner lives with me .   Some years ago whilst living in UK , I made a Civil Partnership with a Filipino partner and the UK government both publicised and promoted the fact that UK national could marry/obtain Civil Partnerships in certain commonwealth countries .  At that time it was not my intention to continue living in UK so as NZ was closest to Philippines we chose there and were approved and subsequently made our Civil Partnership there .  The document was also "deposited" with the UK Registry .  That Civil Partnership fell apart and I retired to Thailand but before I did I was resident in France for a while and tried to get the Civil Partnership dissolved in the UK .   The Lawyer I approached (specialised in such) advised me that the UK had no jurisdiction in this as I was not resident in UK .

I let this be for a while as I was busy moving to and settling in Thailand - and subsequently a new relationship with my present Thai partner .

When I approached the New Zealand authorities , they stated that one of us had to be resident in New Zealand for them to do anything .  I contacted the British Embassy in Bangkok and explained the situation PLUS I contacted the UK foreign office and both seemed to "pass the buck" advising that I contact either the NZ authorities .

Now, I am considering making a new Civil Partnership with my new partner as I wish her to be both recognised and protected legally , in the case of my death .  However, I am obliged to get the existing Civil Partnership dissolved  first but it seems impossible to do so !!!    I would warn any others contemplating marriage/civil partnerships abroad to be wary of ending up with the same predicament !!!     

Make a new will .... simple solution ....

I was intrigued - as civil partnerships in the UK are not available to straight couples- but other countries such as New Zealand do allow civil unions .

 

Reading through the web site - it does clearly state that to dissolve the civil union one of you must be domiciled in New Zealand to start the process . Tricky.

 

Why worry about the old civil union? I hope at retirement age you are not planning to have children- then yes it would need to be sorted out. 

 

Dont rush into things- the only option here is marriage .

 

if the relationship with your new partner does stand the test of time- ( many don't ) before you depart this mortal coil you can always make provision for your Thai partner- transfer money , buy property etc so that she has something for the future. 

Same problem with my (now ex) spouse and the USA. We were married in the State of Michigan, then registered the marriage at the Amphur here. We were able to legally divorce here in Thailand. But the State of Michigan refuses to proceed with a divorce unless I reside in the state for 9 months. I get it - people want to quickly file for divorce in another state that has divorce laws that benefit them. However, in this case, I have had the same home for the last 17 years in Michigan and lived in the state all of my life. But I have lived here for the past 6 years. So, to this day, we are still registered as married in Michigan. I was told by an attorney that the State of Michigan must recognize the divorce that was executed here in Thailand, but I have not had the time to return and verify that by filing the documentation and terminating the marriage there.

It's a situation which has caught others before. You can marry or have a civil union in New Zealand without being resident, but you can't unwind it there unless resident.

 

In countries such as Thailand which don't have civil unions there's no provision for unwinding civil unions made in other countries. 

 

Therefore, if you tend to move about the world and you are heterosexual, it's better to choose marriage as every country in the world has marriage so you can get divorced in any country you're living in. If you're gay, then you can get divorced only in countries that recognise gay marriage, so you may want to choose civil union as more countries have gay civil union than gay marriage.  

 

The underlying problem is, of course, that most of us don't want to contemplate the end at the beginning!

Likely to do with the fact that Thailand, as far as I am aware, doesn't recognise civil partnerships.

The last time I looked at a map, Australia was closer to the Philippines than New Zealand.

Make a new will. All the rest is just window dressing.

People writing about "making a new will" clearly don't understand the actual situation.  A will will not allow the partner to visit the individual in hospital, attend any funeral or have any say in the arrangements, &c.. In such matters a relative will have control.  It will also not allow the partner to receive any pension benefits.

 

Of course, this varies by country, and is a very complex situation.  Clearly annulment of the CP is by far the best solution for the OP, however that may be achieved.

 

OP, what I don't understand is why this is anything to do with the NZ authorities.  The CP is under UK law, so it's up to the UK to dissolve it.  (I'm presuming the CP was done at the British Embassy in NZ.)  And if it wasn't done in the Embassy, then it's a CP under NZ law, and it's up to NZ to dissolve it - nothing to do with the UK.

People writing about "making a new will" clearly don't understand the actual situation.  A will will not allow the partner to visit the individual in hospital, attend any funeral or have any say in the arrangements, &c.. In such matters a relative will have control.  It will also not allow the partner to receive any pension benefits.
 
Of course, this varies by country, and is a very complex situation.  Clearly annulment of the CP is by far the best solution for the OP, however that may be achieved.
 
OP, what I don't understand is why this is anything to do with the NZ authorities.  The CP is under UK law, so it's up to the UK to dissolve it.  (I'm presuming the CP was done at the British Embassy in NZ.)  And if it wasn't done in the Embassy, then it's a CP under NZ law, and it's up to NZ to dissolve it - nothing to do with the UK.

I have a Civil Partnership- with my partner of 40 years- I agree at the time it was done purely for the reasons you mention- i.e. you needed to be next of kin to visit hospital- make important decisions - and of course tax reasons- our finances are closely entwined and always will be.

The ceremony was great- very low key- lots and lots of Champagne afterwards !

The concept in Thailand that you could not visit in hospital is just bonkers- do you live here?

As I said in my previous post - it clearly states -if you carried out the civil union in New Zealand - to dissolve it one of you must be domiciled in NZ

All of this is nothing to with the U.K.

I go by my previous advice- it's just a piece of paper- in the Kingdom means nothing . There are plenty of ways to set up your Thai partner for the future- but take care.

6 minutes ago, peterb17 said:

As I said in my previous post - it clearly states -if you carried out the civil union in New Zealand - to dissolve it one of you must be domiciled in NZ

 

 

 

If (and we don't know that yet) it was done at the British Embassy/Consulate in New Zealand, it was done on what is legally British soil and so is subject to British law, so is nothing to do with NZ law.

Hi

i have a British passport and NZ one. I am 75 now i married my Thai wife in Thailand at the legal office and  few months later married her in NZ also.

we live in Khon Kaen. Make a will out in Thailand to leave all you have to her and go make one in Uk to leave her what you have there.

9 hours ago, bazza73 said:

The last time I looked at a map, Australia was closer to the Philippines than New Zealand.

Make a new will. All the rest is just window dressing.

Australia doesn't allow gay marriage at present.

On ‎06‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 2:45 PM, Oxx said:

People writing about "making a new will" clearly don't understand the actual situation.  A will will not allow the partner to visit the individual in hospital, attend any funeral or have any say in the arrangements, &c.. In such matters a relative will have control.  It will also not allow the partner to receive any pension benefits.

 

Of course, this varies by country, and is a very complex situation.  Clearly annulment of the CP is by far the best solution for the OP, however that may be achieved.

 

OP, what I don't understand is why this is anything to do with the NZ authorities.  The CP is under UK law, so it's up to the UK to dissolve it.  (I'm presuming the CP was done at the British Embassy in NZ.)  And if it wasn't done in the Embassy, then it's a CP under NZ law, and it's up to NZ to dissolve it - nothing to do with the UK.

 

The CP was done at the registry office in New Zealand  and I agree it should be NZ responsible for the dissolution of same BUT NZ requires at least one of the partners to be resident there !!!   So. I couldn't go to NZ or any other commonwealth country that recognises Civil Unions to get another one with my Thai partner as the current one is on file and I would be committing a crime if I tried to make a new CP without first dissolving the existing one .    Maybe I shall just have an unrecognised marriage here in Thailand and have already made provision for my Thai partner in a Will .