Under the Life Partnership Act, life partners and informal life partners have the same personal, status, property, pension, health, social, tax, labor, housing, inheritance, family, criminal, procedural, and other rights and obligations as married and common-law partners in Croatia.
Life partners and informal life partners who take part in the upbringing and care of children, therefore de facto parents and regarded as such, but whose parenthood is not recognized under the current law, do not have the same legal status, rights, and responsibilities toward those children. They are discriminated against, as are their children compared to children in married and common-law families.
Relationships between children and parents in rainbow families are regulated through specific provisions of the Life Partnership Act and the Family Act. These include the delegation of all or certain elements of parental responsibility, or the temporary entrustment of care to a life partner or informal life partner, in the same way that married or common-law partners can entrust care to a third person who looks after the child on a daily basis.
Below are all the rights that life partners and informal life partners in Croatia enjoy under the applicable laws.
Life partners can keep their own surname, take a joint surname, or add their partner’s surname to their own.
Life partners or informal life partners have the same protection from domestic violence as married couples, including all related rights and procedural safeguards. Direct and indirect discrimination based on life partnership status, sexual orientation, or gender identity is strictly prohibited.
The legal framework in Croatia is still based on biological assumptions of parenthood, defined through motherhood, fatherhood, and the sex binary.
Under the Family Act, a mother is legally understood as the woman who gave birth to the child (Art. 58), while fatherhood is presumed for the mother’s husband (Art. 61), recognized (Arts. 62–69) or established through court proceedings (Arts. 70–73).
The Family Act and the State Registries Act, together with their implementing regulation, recognize only the gendered terms “mother” and “father,” meaning that legal parenthood does not acknowledge the possibility of a child having two parents of the same sex.
In practice, the legal relationship toward children in rainbow families can only be regulated through two specific legal mechanisms: parental care and partner-guardianship.
These two mechanisms are currently the only legal means through which rainbow families in Croatia can regulate the relationship between a child and both parents.
PARENTAL CARE
If a child has two legal parents, a life or informal life partner may take part in parental care with their consent, in accordance with the applicable legal provisions.
The Life Partnership Act (Articles 40 and 41) and the Family Act (Article 102, and in some cases Article 110 paragraph 4) allow legal parents to temporarily entrust daily care or specific decisions regarding the child to a life partner or informal life partner of the child’s parent who takes part in the child’s daily care.
Parental care includes ensuring the child’s health, safety, upbringing, education, emotional development, and representation in everyday personal and property matters.
This delegation may be partial or full, temporary, or longer term, until the parent withdraws consent or the child reaches adulthood.
If parental care is delegated for more than 30 days, the parent’s statement must be notarized.
The consent of both legal parents is required unless the legal parent granting consent exercises parental care alone.
Agreements on the scope and duration of parental care may be made between the legal parents and their life or informal life partners through family mediation.
Mediation may take place in private practice or at a family center within the competent social welfare center, and the agreement reached may be notarized.
PARTNER-GUARDIANSHIP
Partner-guardianship is a legal mechanism through which a life partner who is not the child’s legal parent can obtain permanent parental rights and responsibilities toward the child whose legal parent is their life partner.
The provisions on partner-guardianship also apply to informal life partnerships.
This mechanism applies exclusively to situations where the child has only one legal parent. For example, when the other parent is unknown, deprived of parental rights due to abuse, or deceased.
Partner-guardianship may also be requested when the child was conceived through medically assisted reproduction or through home insemination outside medical institutions.
In such cases, the life partner of the child’s legal parent may file a request with the municipal court, according to the child’s place of residence, to obtain the status of partner guardian.
The court decides in non-contentious proceedings, with the consent of the legal parent who exercises parental care, and will request the opinion of the competent social welfare center before deciding.
The procedure is similar in nature to adoption, as it results in permanent parental care and a legal relationship between the child and the partner guardian.
The status of partner-guardianship is entered in the child’s birth certificate as a note, not in the section listing parents.
By law, the partner guardian has the same parental rights and obligations toward the child and the child’s descendants as a parent, and the child has the same rights toward the partner guardian.
This creates a permanent legal relationship equivalent to that between parents and children, including reciprocal inheritance, maintenance, and other rights and duties arising from parental care.
This relationship between the partner guardian and the child does not end with the dissolution of the life partnership. It may be terminated by a court decision upon the request of the partner guardian, the legal parent, or the child if this is in the best interest of the child.
Children under partner-guardianship are considered equal to the partner guardian’s own children.
This relationship does not create kinship between the child and the partner guardian’s relatives, but only between the partner guardian and the child and the child’s descendants. For example, the child has no inheritance rights toward the partner guardian’s parents or other family members. Such rights, however, can be established by a will if the partner guardian’s relatives wish to leave property to the child through testamentary disposition.
Property acquired during the life partnership is considered joint property, and life partners and informal life partners owe each other financial support (spousal support, also known as maintenance) if one lacks sufficient means to live, including during the partnership and, in certain cases, for up to one year after its dissolution.
A life partner or informal life partner can have access to public healthcare through their partner, take sick leave to care for an ill partner, and receive a survivor’s pension after the partner’s death.
A life partner or informal life partner has the right to inherit under the same conditions as a married or common-law spouse. This means that the public notary, until a dispute arises, must treat a life or informal life partnership equally to marriage or common-law spouses during probate proceedings. If there is a dispute over the existence of the partnership or the right to inherit, the notary suspends the procedure and refers the case to the court for a decision.
Life partners or informal life partners are treated equally to married couples regarding tax benefits and dependent family member status, including the right to file joint income declarations, claim dependent partner deductions, and exercise other tax-related rights arising from family status.
If the deceased partner was the tenant, the surviving partner has the right to keep the shared home and continue living there under the same conditions.
Life partners or informal life partners have visitation rights in hospitals, access to medical information, and the right to make emergency care decisions.
Life partners or informal life partners have the right to be informed and take part in decisions concerning their shared family life and property.
A life partner or an informal life partner has the right to visit an imprisoned partner, refuse to testify against them, and exercise the same rights as married and common-law spouses.
Discrimination based on the status of a life partnership or an informal life partnership is prohibited in employment, working conditions, and access to the labor market.
Rights granted to married and common-law spouses, such as leave and paid time off to care for a sick partner, also apply to life partners and informal life partners.
In addition, life partners are entitled to paid leave for entering into a registered life partnership, under the same conditions as married couples when entering into marriage.
Discrimination is prohibited in access to services such as insurance, housing rental, hotels, or catering, including, for example, a partnership anniversary celebration.
In private rental contracts, a life partner or informal life partner cannot lose their home simply because they are not listed in the lease. In case of death or temporary absence of the tenant, all rights and obligations transfer to their life partner or informal life partner.
Life partners or informal life partners have the same rights and obligations as married and common-law spouses before social welfare centers, including access to services and benefits tied to family status, participation in counseling and parental procedures, family accommodation, care and assistance, and protection from domestic violence.
A partner-guardian has the same rights and obligations as a parent in matters involving the child.
After entering into a life partnership, a partner who is not a Croatian citizen may apply for temporary residence for family reunification, allowing the couple to live together in Croatia.
After five years of continuous legal residence, the partner may apply for permanent residence under the conditions set by the Aliens Act.
A life partner of a Croatian citizen may acquire Croatian citizenship under the same conditions as a spouse, after obtaining permanent residence.
Under EU law on freedom of movement (Directive 2004/38/EC and the Article 21 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union) and Article 74 of the Life Partnership Act, partners of EU (27 members) or EEA citizens (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein) enjoy the same rights to free movement, residence, work, education, and family reunification, as well as related rights under the national laws of each member state.
A life partner or an informal life partner of an asylum seeker, refugee, or beneficiary of subsidiary protection is recognized as a family member under the same conditions as a spouse. This includes rights to family reunification, derived residence permits, and access to work, education, and social rights.
Recognition of informal partnerships is especially important since same-sex couples from unsafe countries of origin often cannot legally marry persons of the same legal sex or face persecution due to sexual orientation or gender identity. They must have equal access to international protection as married and common-law spouses, and generally, straight people.
Life partners or informal life partners have the same status as married or common-law spouses of prisoners, including rights to visits, correspondence, phone contact, notifications, and other family-related privileges within the limits set by prison regulations.
FOSTER CARE
Foster care in Croatia refers to temporary family-based care for children who cannot live with their legal parents or guardians. It provides a stable home environment instead of institutional care.
The Foster Care Act does not explicitly mention life partnerships or informal life partnerships, and the Life Partnership Act does not list foster care among the areas of equal access.
However, Life Partnership Act (Articles 64 and 65) recognizes life partnerships and informal life partnerships as having the same legal effects as common-law marriage under special laws governing the social welfare system. The Foster Care Act is one of those laws.
In its Decision U-I-144/2019 et al., the Croatian Constitutional Court found the Foster Care Act constitutional but acknowledged that it could produce discriminatory effects. It instructed all courts and competent authorities to interpret and apply the law in a way that ensures equal access to the foster care system for all, including potential foster parents in life partnerships or informal life partnerships. Following this decision, our monitoring shows that several life partners have been approved as foster parents.
The Court concluded that restrictions based solely on the form of family union or sexual orientation are unnecessary in a democratic society, discriminatory, unconstitutional, and disproportionate to the purpose of the law. This ruling can also be invoked in other cases concerning equal access to rights for life partners, especially in interpreting the constitutional principles of equality and non-discrimination.
MEDICALLY ASSISTED REPRODUCTION (MAR)
The Medically Assisted Reproduction Act grants access to MAR procedures to women who are married, in a common-law marriage, or who are not in a marriage, a common-law marriage, or a “same-sex union” (Arts. 10-11).
Adopted before the Life Partnership Act, it still uses the outdated term “same-sex union,” and effectively excludes women in life or informal life partnerships from access to MAR. The law also excludes persons capable of pregnancy whose legal gender is male from MAR procedures.
By contrast, Life Partnership Act (Article 68) guarantees life partnerships the same rights and obligations as marriage regarding health insurance and healthcare and prohibits any less favorable treatment.
Since MAR is part of the public healthcare system, this exclusion constitutes unequal treatment and could be challenged through an administrative case leading to the Constitutional Court.
In practice, women and other persons capable of pregnancy in informal life partnerships can register as single to avoid discrimination or denial of MAR. They may also invoke Article 68 of the Life Partnership Act to contest restrictive interpretations of the MAR Act and assert equal access to public healthcare.
According to our monitoring, no one has yet challenged this law or initiated proceedings before the courts.
In its Decision U-I-144/2019 et al. concerning foster care, the Constitutional Court held that public authorities must interpret and apply laws in line with constitutional principles of equality and non-discrimination, ensuring equal access to public services for all, including persons in life or informal life partnerships.
The same principle applies to MAR: different treatment of life and informal life partners compared with married or common-law couples is neither objective, legitimate, nor proportionate.
The Medically Assisted Reproduction Act should be amended and harmonized with the Life Partnership Act to remove ambiguities and ensure equal access for all women and persons capable of pregnancy.
ADOPTION OF A CHILD
Life partnerships and informal life partnerships currently have no legal basis for joint or single-parent adoption.
The Family Act does not recognize life or informal life partnerships as entities eligible to adopt a child. The right to adopt is limited to married and common-law spouses, as well as to individuals who are not in a marriage or a common-law marriage (Arts. 186–191).
The Life Partnership Act contains no provision ensuring equal treatment in the field of adoption, even though it equalizes life partnerships with common-law marriages in several other areas, including foster care as part of the social welfare system and medically assisted reproduction (MAR) as part of the public healthcare system.
According to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (Vallianatos and Others v. Greece, Oliari and Others v. Italy, Pajić v. Croatia, Taddeucci and McCall v. Italy, Buhuceanu and Others v. Romania, Fedotova and Others v. Russia), all rights granted to common-law marriages must apply to life and informal life partnerships. Since common-law spouses in Croatia are allowed to adopt, the same right should, under these standards, apply to life partnerships. To our knowledge, no case concerning same-sex adoption has yet been brought before the Constitutional Court or the European Court of Human Rights.
In its Decision Usž-2402/21-4, the High Administrative Court of the Republic of Croatia confirmed that life partners have the right to be considered for registration as potential adoptive parents. Public authorities, including social welfare centers, may not reject their application solely based on the form of family union. The Court applied the constitutional principles of equality and non-discrimination under Article 14 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia and Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, in conjunction with Article 8 on the right to respect for family life.
Following this decision, several local and international media, as well as some organizations, including ILGA-Europe, inaccurately reported that same-sex couples in Croatia gained the right to adopt. In reality, the judgment only requires that life partners be granted access to the assessment process and registration as potential adopters. It does not establish a legal right to adoption, since the relevant provisions of the Family Act remain unchanged. Municipal courts, which are competent to issue adoption decisions, cannot apply a right that is not provided by law.
Access to adoption can only be guaranteed by the Croatian Parliament through legislative change. The Family Act must be amended and harmonized with the principles of equality and non-discrimination under the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia (Arts. 3 and 14) and the European Convention on Human Rights (Arts. 8 and 14).
