Divorce reform, future of civil partnerships and age of marriage

About the consultation

​The Minister for Home Affairs asked islanders for their views on three issues:

• divorce reform
• the future of civil partnerships
• age of marriage

Divorce reform future of civil partnerships and age of marriage consultation document

Divorce reform

In September 2015, the States Assembly agreed in principle to introduce new divorce legislation  and consideration should be given to:

• removing the three year bar on divorce because at the moment you have to be married for three years before filing for divorce
• moving to no fault divorce, allowing a person to file for divorce without having to claim that their spouse was a fault
• introducing joint filing for divorce
• removing the ability to contest a divorce

Future of civil partnerships

In June 2018, the UK Supreme Court ruled that it is discriminatory to only allow same-sex couples to enter into a civil partnership. Jersey needs to consider whether to amend its law to:

• extend civil partnerships to opposite sex couples, in addition to same sex couples, or
• close civil partnerships to new couples, but retain existing civil partnerships

Age of marriage

The United Nations Committee on the Convention of the Rights of the Child has recommended that Jersey no longer allow 16 and 17 years olds to get married. Jersey needs to consider if the minimum age of marriage should be raised to 18 years.

Public meeting dates

How to submit comments to the consultation

The consultation is now closed and you can read a summary of the responses received.