Prior to the entry into force of the Civil Partnership Registration Act, same-sex partners were not included in the existing family legislation, therefore, their legal situation was unregulated. The Act regulated registration of the same-sex partnership, which created legal consequences only in the relationship among partners, but it did not provide rights and obligations in the relationship towards children. With the entry into force of the Civil Union Act, the institute of the registered same-sex partnership was replaced by the civil union that has the same legal consequences as the marriage both, in the field of family law, as well as in all other legal fields.
Until the entry into force of the Civil Union Act, family legislation did not know a special legal regulation of the actual life partnership of the same-sex partners. In the Civil Union Act, this partnership is called non-formal civil union, which is a long-standing partnership of two persons of the same sex, who did not get married. Non-formal civil union creates legal consequences only in the relationship among partners, which are in the field of family law the same as in the relationship among civil union partners. In the fields outside the family law, this partnership creates legal consequences only if the legislation in the subject field acknowledges such legal consequences to the extramarital union.
The new arrangement approaches the full equality of rights with heterosexual partners. However, same-sex partners still cannot adopt a child together and are not entitled to the assisted human reproduction procedures.
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