The Lithuanian Ministry of Justice has proposed the establishment of a civil partnership institution. The new regulation would amend the Civil Code to include the definition of partnership as the “creation of familial relations through effective co-habitation.”
Civil partnerships would only be permitted between persons of the opposite sex. Same-sex relationships would continue to have no legal protection or status whatsoever.
The Lithuanian Civil Code, which entered into force in 2001, makes allowances for some type of civil partnership defined as co-habitation outside of marriage, however no legislation establishing such an institution has ever made it through Parliament.
According to the Baltic News Service, several draft laws have been presented to the Lithuanian legislature in the past decade, the most recent in November, 2011, but all have been defeated.
In an explanatory document accompanying the proposal, the Ministry of Justice expressed its hope that a civil partnership institution would help protect the interests of children born to unwed partners as well as the rights and privileges of both partners. The draft also contains provisions ensuring mutual material support and the right to inherit a partner’s property.
(Source: Delfi / BNS, 15 Oct 2013)
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