The impact of the increasing numbers of same-sex marriages or legally recognized partnerships on other legal domains, such as property rights and divorce law

Many EU Member States have introduced specific provisions on same-sex marriages and registered partnerships that grant to homosexual couples a number of rights that differ according to certain patterns, depending upon the degree of differentiation from opposite-sex couples. While the effect on the personal status, the personal relationship and the property regime within the same-sex couple is often the same as in heterosexual relationships, the rights arising from the relationship between the couple and their children (either biological or adopted) vary considerably. The same applies to the dissolution of the marriage or partnership, and the conditions and consequences thereof. States that recognise the validity of same-sex marriages and registered partnerships have adopted special conflicts of laws provisions on jurisdiction and the recognition of decisions and on the law applicable to such relationships in order to grant also to non-nationals the possibility to celebrate a marriage or conclude a registered partnership with a same-sex partner and to reduce the consequences of the non-recognition of such couples abroad.