More and More Together: Legal Family Formats For
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75 (2017) Changing families and sustainable societies: Policy contexts and diversity over the life course and across generations More and more together: Legal family formats for same-sex and different-sex couples in European countries Comparative analysis of data in the LawsAndFamilies Database edited by Kees Waaldijk with contributions by Daniel Damonzé, Marie Digoix, Marina Franchi, Natalie Nikolina, José Ignacio Pichardo Galán, Giulia Selmi, Matias de Stéfano Barbero, Matthias Thibeaud, Jose A.M. Vela, Kees Waaldijk, and Giuseppe Zago © Copyright is held by the author(s). A project funded by European Union's Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement no. 320116 More and more together: Legal family formats for same-sex and different-sex couples in European countries Comparative analysis of data in the LawsAndFamilies Database edited by Kees Waaldijk 1 with contributions by Daniel Damonzé, Marie Digoix, Marina Franchi, Natalie Nikolina, José Ignacio Pichardo Galán, Giulia Selmi, Matias de Stéfano Barbero, Matthias Thibeaud, Jose A.M. Vela, Kees Waaldijk, and Giuseppe Zago Abstract: This report offers a comparative analysis of legal and other data concerning same- sex (and different-sex) families, in marriage, in registered partnership, and in cohabitation. These data (from a legal survey among legal experts in 21 European countries, from sociological interviews with same-sex families in four countries, and from a statistical survey of twelve countries) have been brought together in the LawsAndFamilies Database – Aspects of legal family formats for same-sex and different-sex couples (www.LawsAndFamilies.eu). The report presents the database and the methodology of the legal survey, followed by an overview and analysis of the main results of that survey for the different countries in light of European minimum standards, plus five comparative cases studies on specific legal issues for which the database now provides detailed information, and a synthesis of the findings from the qualitative interviews. The conclusion highlights the main findings on the situation of same-sex couples, including gender aspects, and offers recommendations for further research and for legal policy; it connects legal and sociological findings, and presents correlations between laws, public attitudes, and statistics. The general theme of the report is increasing legal equality for increasing diversity of families. Keywords: family law, marriage, registered partnership, cohabitation, same-sex couples, different-sex couples 1 Kees Waaldijk, professor of comparative sexual orientation law at Leiden Law School (www.law.leidenuniv.nl/waaldijk), is the main author of the LawsAndFamilies questionnaire on legal family formats, and the principal editor of the law content of the resulting LawsAndFamilies Database. His report More or less together was published in 2005. Disclaimer This paper and the LawsAndFamilies Database contain information with a scientific aim. Nothing in this paper or database should be seen as legal advice. Not all nuances and exceptions are included, and there may be errors and further legal developments. The experts, the authors, the editors, the Institut national d’études démographiques and Leiden University cannot be held liable for any inaccurate or incomplete information in any part of this paper or database. More particularly, they cannot be held liable for any damage or consequences from the direct or indirect use of contents of this paper or database. Acknowledgements The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 320116 for the research project FamiliesAndSocieties (see www.familiesandsocieties.eu). An earlier version of this Working paper was submitted to the European Commission in January 2017 as deliverable D9.2 in the FamiliesAndSocieties project, under the title “Report of analyses regarding non-standard families”. Since then, this text has been improved and considerably extended. Kees Waaldijk is deeply grateful to all the legal experts across Europe who answered the detailed questions in the LawsAndFamilies questionnaire for their respective jurisdictions, and who reviewed answers given by their colleagues; to the people at INED (in particular Kamel Nait Abdellah, Arianna Caporali and Marie Digoix) who made the legal survey technically possible and who worked with dedication on the creation of the LawsAndFamilies Database; to the researchers at Leiden Law School (José María Lorenzo Villaverde, Natalie Nikolina, Giuseppe Zago and Daniel Damonzé) who for different periods contributed with great commitment to the drafting and organisation of the legal questionnaire, the reviewing and editing of the answers, the creation of the legal database, and/or this comparative analysis; to Clara Cortina and Patrick Festy for their work on the statistical survey; to Marie Digoix, Marina Franchi, José Ignacio Pichardo Galán, Giulia Selmi, Matias de Stéfano Barbero, Matthias Thibeaud and Jose A.M. Vela for their work on the sociological survey; and to all those others who with their wisdom and encouragement helped to make this part of the FamiliesAndSocieties research project a success (including Livia Oláh and Gerda Neyer in Stockholm, Olivier Thévenon in Paris, other partners and stakeholders in FamiliesAndSocieties, the European Commission, the Betsy Brouwer Fonds at the Leiden University Fund, and last but not least Jacqueline Jongenelen at Leiden Law School’s finance department). For more information about the team members and experts, and about their roles in this project, see paragraph 1.5 of this Working paper, the references at the end of Chapter 2, and the Team pages at www.LawsAndFamilies.eu. 1 Table of content Disclaimer............................................................................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................... 1 Table of figures and tables .................................................................................................................. 5 Chapter 1: Introduction to the legal survey and its methods ......................................................... 7 1.1 Changing laws on families ..................................................................................................................................... 7 1.2 The LawsAndFamilies Database ........................................................................................................................... 9 1.3 The concept of “legal family formats” ................................................................................................................... 10 1.4 Methods .............................................................................................................................................................. 12 1.4.1 Legal experts .............................................................................................................................................. 12 1.4.2 The questionnaire ....................................................................................................................................... 14 1.4.3 Answer-codes and years............................................................................................................................. 16 1.4.4 Sources and explanations ........................................................................................................................... 19 1.5 Research team .................................................................................................................................................... 20 1.6 The structure of this comparative analysis .......................................................................................................... 22 References ................................................................................................................................................................. 22 Chapter 2: Overview of the results from the legal survey ............................................................. 25 2.1 More legal family formats for same-sex couples in more European countries ..................................................... 25 2.2 Main results in the six sections of the database .................................................................................................. 28 2.2.1 Section 1 – Formalisation ............................................................................................................................ 28 2.2.2 Section 2 – Income and troubles ................................................................................................................. 32 2.2.3 Section 3 – Parenting .................................................................................................................................. 34 2.2.4 Section 4 – Migration .................................................................................................................................. 36 2.2.5 Section 5 – Splitting up ............................................................................................................................... 38 2.2.6 Section 6 – Death ....................................................................................................................................... 39 2.3 More and more European