Review article
INTESTATE INHERITANCE OF SAME-SEX PARTNERS IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA WITHIN THE EXISTING LEGAL FRAMEWORK
Dubravka Klasiček
; Pravni fakultet u Osijeku
Abstract
In Croatia, same-sex partners can only conclude unregistered partnership (de facto union) and, as such, it will produce some legal effects, if certain legally prescribed conditions are met. However, the possibility of intestate inheritance is not one of those effects. It should be noted that the de facto same-sex unions are, in many ways, very similar to the de facto cohabitation, but there are also many differences. For this work the most important difference lies in the fact that unmarried couples in de facto unions can inherit one another as intestate heirs, while same-sex partners in de facto unions can only inherit each other as testamentary heirs. This paper deals with the effects of de facto unions – opposite sex and same-sex unions, in inheritance law or the lack thereof. The paper emphasizes the fact that this distinction, with regard to the effects that these de facto unions have or do not have in inheritance law, is based solely on the gender of persons forming the affected unions, which certainly constitutes as discrimination of same-sex partners. The paper also points out that, in fact, there is no legal reason that intestate inheritance of same-sex partners in de facto unions is not already allowed within the existing legal framework, with only minor changes of Inheritance Act .
Keywords
same-sex unions; cohabitation; formal/de facto union; intestate inheritance; same-sex marriage
Hrčak ID:
119403
URI
Publication date:
19.12.2013.
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