In a landmark financial judgment The Court of Appeal has confirmed that the courts will treat civil partners in the same way as married couples when their relationship ends. The court last week overturned a High Court decision that awarded west end actor Donald Gallagher nearly £1.7m following the break-up of his civil partnership with financial analyst Peter Lawrence.

Lords Justice Thorpe and Moses and Mr Justice Ryder ruled that Gallagher was not entitled to 42% of the shared £4m assets and reduced his share to less than £1.5m (33%).

The pair’s civil partnership had lasted seven months, before which they had cohabited for 11 years.

Giving judgment, Thorpe said that the fact that claim arises from the dissolution of a civil partnership rather than a marriage ‘is of little moment’ as the language of the law for civil partnerships is ‘identical’ to the law for marriage.

Commenting on the case, co-chair of the Law Society’s family law committee James Carroll said: ‘It confirms something we all knew, but which perhaps needed stating, that when dealing with a civil partnership case we apply the same principles as we do in a marriage case.’

As the court pointed out schedule 5 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 echoes Section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.

David Allison, immediate past chair of family lawyers’ group Resolution said: ‘There were no surprises in the judgment, which focused on a property that one party owned before their relationship.’

But he said he would be interested to see the first civil partnership decision on maintenance. ‘The law is non-discriminatory, but the practical reality is that it’s very difficult to get a maintenance order if you are a man in a divorce case. It’s going to be fascinating to see what happens between same sex couples.’

He added: ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s harder to get an order in a case concerning two men than in a case with two women.’