Posted by:
anonuk
(
)
Date: October 12, 2017 10:18AM
this article:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2008/apr/30/inheritancetax.taxtalks about the elderly sisters who enquired after a civil partnership (the pre-cursor to gay marriage here in the UK) to ensure whichever sister survived longest was not hit with a massive tax bill when the first sister eventually died.
The sisters had spent their entire lives together in the same home they co-owned, yet whichever died first would leave an inheritance tax obligation for the other, something civil unions addressed for same sex couples: inheritance and other legal/money matters.
The first sister to die would not be able to pass on her estate to the person she had shared all financial matters with her entire life. The whole argument for civil partnerships at the time was about same sex couples having the same financial security as hetero couples - partners' welfare rights and pensions, etc. The outcome was that same sex civil partnerships were only for homosexuals and not for heterosexual couples, related by blood or not: something new and unique had been created by government for the small minority population; homosexuals.
Some people at the time wondered where it would all end and so came the publicity surrounding the sisters' inheritance tax case. Their position was understandable, they believed they should have the same rights as other 'same-sex' couples.