Partnership for Life Act
Lebenspartnerschaftsgesetz (LpartG) 

Act on Registered Partnerships for Life (Gesetz über die Eingetragene Lebenspartnerschaft – LpartG) of 16 February 2001, as amended by the Act amending the Act on Names in Marriages or Partnerships of 6 February 2005, last amended by Art. 2 subs. 18 of the Act of 19 February 2007

The Act on Registered Partnerships for Life, or Partnership for Life Act, entered into force on 1 August 2001 and was extensively amended on 1 January 2005.

The Partnership for Life Act introduced the autonomous legal concept of domestic partnerships which are neither a marriage nor com-parable to a marriage. The Federal Constitutional Court ruled on 17 July 2002 that the Act on Registered Partnerships for Life is constitu-tional and does not violate Art. 6 of the Basic Law and its normative principle, which protects marriages and families. This Act gives same-sex couples legal certainty for an envisaged long-term partnership. The provisions of the Partnership for Life Act do not result in full equality of such partnerships and marriages, however.

The Act puts an end to discrimination against gays and lesbians. Homosexual couples are given an opportunity to register their partnership for life with an authority to be determined by the Länder – normally the registrar’s office. This leads to a number of rights and obligations for the partners which did not exist in the past and resulted in discrimination against gay and lesbian couples. This Act, the constitutionality of which has now been confirmed, acknowledges the fact that same-sex living arrangements are regarded as a natural element of our society.

Core provisions of the Partnership for Life Act are: 

• the opportunity to determine a common name,
• mutual maintenance obligations and rights,
• a “restricted custody” right for the partner for life, i. e. the partner’s co-determination in everyday matters of a child brought into the partnership by the other partner,
• the statutory right of inheritance of the surviving partner,
• the rights of the surviving partner to enter into a rental agreement for an apartment,
• the right to refuse to testify, the inclusion of the partner for life in health insurance and long-term care insurance policies,
• the right of foreign partners for life to enter the country or to be naturalized,
• provisions on the consequences over separation of the partners for life (such as maintenance rights).

The Act determines that a partnership for life cannot be lawfully established

• with a person who is a minor or married or living in a partnership for life with another individual;
• between individuals who are related in a direct line;
• between full or half siblings;
• when the partners for life agree that they do not wish to establish obligations pursuant to section 2 when they establish their partnership.

The Act also states that there is no right to bring legal action for the establishment of a partnership for life on the basis of a promise to establish such a partnership.