What are the particularities and differences that characterize both legal figures. What recognition is like in Costa Rica and why May 2020 is a key date. In this article we tell you everything you need to know.
Brief history of civil union and equal marriage in Costa Rica
This year, equal marriage will celebrate its fourth anniversary in Costa Rica: in May 2020 it stopped being an exclusive right for heterosexual couples. To date, more than 2,400 same-sex unions have been legalized. A number that not only includes new links but also incorporates those carried out in foreign jurisdictions.
In the country, the history of civil union between people of the same sex and equal marriage began at the beginning of 2000, when various projects were presented with little success, although their antecedents date back to the 90s. A review of these decades allows us to give account of the chronology of its history: in 1994 the first debates on the subject took place, in 2006 the Law on civil unions was presented (which have finally been allowed and recognized since 2015), in 2009 the Law on Coexistence Companies, going through a referendum and several rejections until the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) intervened in 2016. This body, through its advisory opinion, concluded that it was necessary for states to guarantee access to all the figures already existing in domestic legal systems, including the right to marriage between people of the same sex.
Although equal marriage and civil union were two different figures with different levels of legal recognition, rights and obligations, as of May 26, 2020, equal marriage is the only legal option for same-sex couples in Costa Rica.
Civil union: characteristics and particularities
Also known as a de facto union, it occurs when two people, who are suitable to enter into a civil union, have a public, well-known, unique and stable relationship for more than two years. Added to these requirements are a set of obligations, which are acquired after two years of coexistence, as long as it is peaceful and with freedom of state.
In this type of case, its consummation does not entail formal ceremonies; the cohabitants only contract the property effects of a legally formalized civil union (for example, community property or the possibility of living off a pension). It should be noted that the recognition of this union can be requested by any of the cohabiting persons or by their heirs. Regarding dissolution, the effects expire two years from the breaking of the bond, that is, from cohabitation or the death of the person causing it.
At ERP Lawyers we are at your disposal with our team specialized in family law to advise you in the preparation of this and other procedures.
