by Rex Wockner
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Ireland's new same-sex civil-partnership law took effect Jan. 1.
Couples can unite before a registrar after giving three months' notice of their intention to tie the knot.
Civil partners receive marriage rights and obligations in matters such as taxes, pensions, property, tenancy, inheritance, alimony, immigration and social benefits.
To end a partnership, a couple will go before a court and prove they've not lived together for two of the last three years.
The law also recognizes foreign same-sex unions and provides some rights for unregistered couples who have lived together for at least five years.
Justice Minister Dermot Ahern called the law "one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation to be enacted since independence."
"Persons in committed gay relationships who wish to share duties and responsibilities now have the choice to register their partnership and become part of a legal regime that fully protects them in the course of that partnership and, if necessary, on its termination," he said. "The new law recognizes and supports diversity."
An informational booklet on the registration process is available at http://www.groireland.ie.
