German legal differences between registered life partners, life partners and spouses
Emotionally, all couples are connected through their love and their lives together – regardless of their gender or how they describe their relationship. But legally, it all depends on how the relationship is classified. Different rights and obligations exist depending on the legal nature of the relationship.
How do registered civil partners differ from life partners as partners?
To clarify the difference between a registered civil partnership and a life partnership in which life partners live together merely as partners.
Where the law refers to a civil partnership, this always refers to a registered civil partnership. The reference to registration is important to distinguish this form of life from legally non-binding forms of human life. Registration refers to the entry in the civil partnership register, which the registry offices maintain alongside the marriage register.
Civil partnerships not registered in the civil partnership register are also partnerships, but they do not establish mutual rights and obligations between the partners. Their rights and obligations arise solely from their shared lifestyle. Partners in such relationships are commonly referred to as life partners.
As long as your partnership is not properly concluded according to the legal requirements and thus officially registered and entered in the civil partnership register, you and your partner are legally considered strangers. Your relationship as a non-registered civil partner is then governed by general civil law principles.
How do registered civil partnerships and marriage differ?
From the outset, marriage and registered civil partnerships aimed to provide couples with the greatest possible legal equality. Civil partnership law is therefore based on the marriage law contained in the German Civil Code. In many cases, the Civil Partnership Act refers to marriage law. Many provisions of marriage law therefore apply. The introduction of marriage for all was intended to achieve final equality by allowing same-sex couples to marry. Registered civil partners who do not convert their civil partnership into a marriage should benefit equally from this equality – however, there are still some differences.
There is a key difference in adoption law: If same-sex partners wish to fulfill their dream of having a family with children and are dependent on adopting a child from another person, they must pursue successive adoption. In this case, one partner first adopts the child, followed by the other partner in a subsequent step.
Further differences arise in the law of parentage. While in marriages between a man and a woman, the man is automatically legally recognized as the father if he is married to the mother at the time of birth, the mother's partner or wife does not automatically become the child's legal parent. She must first adopt the child through stepchild adoption to be legally recognized as a parent.
There have been initiatives for reforms to the law of descent for some time. Furthermore, the Berlin Senate has decided to submit a motion for a resolution on reforming the law of descent to the Bundesrat. The Federal Constitutional Court also has relevant cases before it, which it must now decide.
How do registered civil partnerships and marriage differ?
From the outset, marriage and registered civil partnerships aimed to provide couples with the greatest possible legal equality. Civil partnership law is therefore based on the marriage law contained in the German Civil Code. In many cases, the Civil Partnership Act refers to marriage law. Many provisions of marriage law therefore apply. The introduction of marriage for all was intended to achieve final equality by allowing same-sex couples to marry. Registered civil partners who do not convert their civil partnership into a marriage should benefit equally from this equality – however, there are still some differences.
There is a key difference in adoption law: If same-sex partners wish to fulfill their dream of having a family with children and are dependent on adopting a child from another person, they must pursue successive adoption. In this case, one partner first adopts the child, followed by the other partner in a subsequent step.
Further differences arise in the law of parentage. While in marriages between a man and a woman, the man is automatically legally recognized as the father if he is married to the mother at the time of birth, the mother's partner or wife does not automatically become the child's legal parent. She must first adopt the child through stepchild adoption to be legally recognized as a parent.
There have been initiatives for reforms to the law of descent for some time. Furthermore, the Berlin Senate has decided to submit a motion for a resolution on reforming the law of descent to the Bundesrat. The Federal Constitutional Court also has relevant cases before it, which it must now decide.