The Scottish Government has announced a consultation on a series of proposed changes to family law.
- implementing the Scottish Law Commission’s recommendations to improve cohabitants’ rights following separation;
- cohabitants’ rights where their partner dies without leaving a will;
- whether the minimum age of marriage and civil partnership should be raised from 16 to 18, and on extending the criminal offence of forced marriage or forced civil partnership;
- extending the simplified divorce and dissolution procedures in Scotland to include cases where there are children under 16 and no dispute about their welfare; and
- whether there should be qualifying requirements for religious and belief bodies with celebrants who solemnise marriages and register civil partnerships.