Intestate Succession of Unmarried Partners
Equalization, Limited Rights and Discretionary Protection
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Beschreibung
European legal systems remain divided over whether and how unmarried partners should be protected on intestacy. This volume compares these approaches, from equalization with spouses to limited rights and discretionary protection, and examines the choices that shape them.
This volume examines how European succession laws respond to the social significance of unmarried partnerships when one partner dies intestate. Its central thesis is that the legal position of unmarried partners cannot be understood through a simple opposition between recognition and non-recognition; rather, European systems employ distinct models of succession rights that differ in the degree and mechanism of protection they provide. Using a comparative law methodology, the volume analyses selected jurisdictions across Northern, Central, Southern, Southeastern, and Eastern Europe, as well as England and Wales and Scotland, combining the historical development of intestate succession with an examination of contemporary law. Its theoretical framework is functional and comparative: instead of relying on jurisdiction-specific terminology, it classifies legal systems according to the protection afforded to the surviving partner. The comparative analysis identifies three principal models: equalization with spouses, more limited statutory rights, and discretionary protection. It also demonstrates how differing historical foundations, doctrinal structures, and policy choices shape the legal treatment of cohabitation after death. By situating intestate succession within broader processes of family change, while distinguishing it from testamentary succession, mandatory family protection, and inheritance taxation, the volume defines a coherent field of inquiry. Bringing together jurisdictions from diverse legal traditions and regulatory settings, it contributes a structured framework for comparing the position of unmarried partners and clarifies the range of legal responses available to succession law in contemporary Europe.
Autor*in
Gregor Christandl
is Professor and Head of the Department of Civil Law, Comparative and Private International Law, University of Graz, Austria.