The Marriage (Same-sex Couples) and Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2019

The regulations implementing these provisions were signed on December 19, 2020, and came into force on January 13, 2020. The regulations generally enable civil same-sex marriage and also non same-sex civil partnership.  Specifically, Part 2 allows same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland; allows consular and armed forces marriages overseas to be formed under Northern Ireland law; and treats as marriages in Northern Ireland same-sex marriages formed in other parts of the United Kingdom or abroad overseas which were previously treated as civil partnerships in Northern Ireland. Part 5 enables persons to apply for a gender recognition certificate to change their legal gender. Parts 6 and 7 make conforming changes to pensions, social security legislation, notably relating survivor benefits. Parts 9, 10 and 11 make changes to legislation to reflect that married couples may be of the same sex and civil partners may be of the opposite sex, and transitional arrangements regarding opposite-sex civil partnerships and overseas relationships.