2. Finland - Ministerial proposal seeks greater protection for unmarried couples (January 2009)

Source: Finland – Helsinki Times - Domestic news - General - Thursday, 22 January 2009

Partners left in a financially weaker position following separation would be able to apply for financial redress on the basis of their contribution to the maintenance of the former household.

Justice Minister Tuija Brax argues that the present legal situation for cohabiting couples fails to take account of common sense.

A ministry of justice working group has proposed that the protection afforded to members of cohabiting couples following divorce or the death of a partner should be improved. The authors of the proposal, which was presented to the Minister of Justice, Tuija Brax (The Greens), on 14 January, emphasised that the point of any new law would not be to create equivalency between cohabitation and marriage. Cohabitation has become increasing common since the 1970s, and according to current statistics every fifth family in Finland is a unmarried one. Should the Ministry go ahead with the proposal, the reforms will come into force no earlier than the beginning of next year.

“So far when it comes to individual rights, the law has treated partners in cohabiting couples as though they had never set eyes on each other. This does not correspond to the average person’s sense of justice,” said Brax.

One special adviser on legislative reform and the spokeswoman for the working group behind the proposal, Salla Lötjönen, stresses that any change would not force unmarried couples to register their relationship legal in the manner of a civil union, nor would it require any special legal procedure in the case of separation. Instead, the law would recognise cohabitation as “a living arrangement based around an unmarried relationship.”

Marja-Liisa Rosten, who has lived with her partner for almost 40 years, sees the legislative proposal as more than welcome.

“In our case, we’ve already divided all of our assets. So we own both our home and our car together,” said Rosten.

Not all couples living in their situation have been quite as sensible.

“I know of cases where one partner has paid all the instalments on a new car, bought various necessities for the home and taken care of all sorts of other running costs. Because their name was not on the papers however, when the relationship didn't work out the other partner was the one who was left with the assets. The one who had actually made the most financial sacrifices was left empty-handed,” she explained.

Tribunals may settle separation disputes

According to the new proposal, in the event of a separation, each person in the partnership would keep his or her own property, and mutually owned property would be liquidated upon request. Assets that could not be proved to belong to one or the other partner would be considered as belonging to both. In the case of a dispute, a tribunal could be asked to designate the executor.

The tribunal could also be appealed to by one partner seeking to remain in the family home, with the tribunal empowered to make a decision based on demonstrable need and for a period of no more than six months. The other partner would then be instructed to leave the home, for which the remaining partner would be required to pay him or her compensation.

In especially needy cases, the tribunal would also be vested with the right to temporarily evict the owner of the family home and leave the non-owning partner in his or her place, for example to take care of the couple’s children.

In cases where one partner dies, the surviving partner would be granted the right to remain in the couple’s home for up to a year in cases where he or she does not own it and hasn't been willed the right to legal ownership.

Olli Kemppainen – STT
Heidi Lehtonen,
Matthew Parry – HT