Homosexual marriages in Germany
Homosexual marriages have been allowed in Germany since 2002. These are known as civil partnerships. The other name also means that full equality between civil partnership and marriage has not yet been achieved.
If you live in a same-sex partnership and would like to marry your partner, this has been possible in Germany since 2002. You can get married at a registry office of your choice. Nevertheless, you should know that homosexual marriages in Germany differ from those of heterosexual couples. Strictly speaking, a homosexual marriage is a registered partnership; there is no absolute equality with marriage between men and women.
Homosexual marriages are possible
- Homosexual marriages can easily be concluded in any registry office in Germany. In advance, you have to complete the usual formalities, and the ceremony is no different from that of a classic marriage. You can also choose a family name or take the name of your partner.
- You should know that the word civil partnership is used to denote your relationship, rather than marriage. This results in various changes compared to marriage, which can only be concluded between partners of different sexes, which are defined in the Civil Partnership Act.
In Germany there is no equality with traditional marriage
- The fact that you do not have a marriage with your same-sex partner but a civil partnership also results in differences in the law. However, after the introduction of the possibility of entering into homosexual marriages in Germany, equality is being promoted. For example, life partners and spouses have been taxed according to the more favorable splitting table since 2011.
- It can be assumed that the civil partnership of classic marriage will be brought into line with more and more areas and that equality will thus be promoted more and more. However, there will also be areas where marriage differs from civil partnership, such as adoption. In contrast to spouses, life partners cannot adopt a child together.
Before the law there is a difference between "just living together" and "in ...
If you would like to marry your partner, you should take the opportunity. You can also obtain legal protection for your partnership in other ways, for example by means of a will or special insurance.
