Registered partnership

A registered partnership is a form of union recorded with the registrar of births, deaths and marriages, with almost the same legal consequences as marriage. The principal difference lies in how it ends: where there are no minor children, it can be dissolved without going to court.

Legal basis

Title 5A of Book 1 of the Dutch Civil Code contains the regime, beginning with Article 1:80a. The property consequences are the same as for marriage: since 1 January 2018 a limited community of property arises by operation of law unless partnership conditions have been agreed. Article 1:80c sets out how the partnership ends. Where there are no children under eighteen, an agreement in which the partners declare they wish to live permanently apart suffices, countersigned by a lawyer or civil-law notary and registered with the registrar. Where there are minor children, dissolution by the court is compulsory and the parenting plan requirement of Article 815 of the Code of Civil Procedure applies.

How it works in practice

Maintenance, pension equalisation and division of the community all work exactly as on a divorce. The position under succession law is identical too: a registered partner inherits under the statutory division. Since 2015 a partnership can be converted directly into a marriage. One difference is that a child born during the partnership does not automatically acquire legal parentage with the male partner; acknowledgement remains necessary.

Where it goes wrong

Partners assume the simplified ending also applies where there are children; it does not. A second error is overlooking pension equalisation, which as on divorce must be notified to the pension provider within two years for direct payment. Third, spousal maintenance remains payable here too, even where the ending was handled administratively.