Siblings and civil partnerships

Dr Ruth Gaffney-Rhys Newport Business School University of Wales Newport. The European Court of Human Rights case of Burden and Burden v United Kingdom (Application No 13378/05) at the end of 2006 raised the issue of whether siblings should be able to enter into civil partnerships. The Burden sisters were in their eighties and had lived together for the past 30 years. When the first sister died the survivor would be faced with a 40% inheritance tax bill which might force her to have to sell the house. Their argument was that their relationship was analogous to that of a married couple and that the charge for inheritance tax (which would not apply to married couples and civil partners) infringed their Art 14 and Art 1 rights under the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms 1950 (the Convention). The court held that the UK tax concession granted to spouses and civil partners pursued a legitimate aim and there had been no breach of the sisters' Convention rights.

This article considers whether cohabiting siblings are in a relationship analogous to marriage...

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