File photo Louisa Wall says under her bill, couples who wish to transfer their civil unions to marriage would be able to do so without dissolving their civil union. It’s one of the issues she has clarified in her submission to the select committee hearing the bill. The Labour MP says the way has already been paved, as currently sections 17 and 18 of the Civil Union Act 2004 allow the form of a relationship to be changed by having the new form of relationship solemnised without having to first dissolve the current relationship. She says section 18(3) of the Civil Union Act 2004 provides that the solemnisation of the marriage of two people who are in a civil union with each other changes the relationship from a civil union into a marriage, without altering the duration of the relationship. Wall also touched on couples who have married overseas, who may wish to have it recognised in New Zealand. She says they can apply to the Family Court: “and I would hope that the Family Court would, in the exercise of its discretion, recognise the purpose of this Bill and consider favourably the application of any couple that has married overseas at a time when we did not have equality and non-discrimination in respect of the exercise of the Marriage Act.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 8th November 2012 - 10:03am