If ruling coalition fulfils its promise, LGBTI couples should be able to inherit from each other by 2024

A last will might not be a sufficient solution for same-sex couples to prevent losing their common property.

Slovakia’s LGBTI community seeks to expand their rights.Slovakia’s LGBTI community seeks to expand their rights. (Source: Kristína Hamárová)

When one of the partners in a marriage dies, the bereaved can be sure that nobody will take their common apartment or house away.

35-year-old Marek Novotný from Trnava, however, has found the love of his life in a man. If he transfers part of the ownership of his flat to his partner, he could not be sure after his death that his relatives would not claim their right to the property.

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Same-sex couples are not able to automatically inherit from each other in Slovakia, even if they live together in a long-term relationship and take care of each other. The law sees them as two strangers.

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A house or a flat could end up in the hands of relatives and the partner would not have the right to claim it in an inheritance proceeding.

"It is important for any couple to be able to rest assured that if they live in one household that they both invest in, one of them will not end up out on the street if something happens to the other one," Novotný said.

For married couples, visiting an injured partner in a hospital is a trivial matter in legal terms. In same-sex relationships, a partner does not get information about the health condition of the other.

Same-sex couples are also not able to receive each other's mail or get days off to organise a funeral when one of them dies.

The current ruling parties have committed themselves in their coalition agreement to "improving the legislature in the area of property rights for persons living in a common household", but Sme Rodina and part of the OLaNO caucus may block any major changes.

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