Heterosexual registered partnership

blackdragone · Post by **blackdragone** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 11:23 am

Hello,
I'd like to ask you an information about couple life in Finland. I know there exists registered partnership for homosexual couples in Finland, but I was wondering if there was something similar for heterosexual couples (we're both immigrants but with permanent residence and Finnish personal number). Also, in the case of affirmative answer, I would like to know which rights this condition implies (automatic inheritance rights? Right of taking important medical decisions for the companion? ...) and were one should register such thing.
Thank you very muc to everyone who will reply.

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Mook · Post by **Mook** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 11:27 am

In Finland, this is normally known as "marriage". You can go to maistratti and sign the papers there.

jahasjahas · Post by **jahasjahas** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 12:16 pm

Mook wrote:maistratti

Btw, is there a joke I'm missing? It seems that I never see the word "maistraatti" spelled correctly around here

blackdragone · Post by **blackdragone** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 4:22 pm

You know Mook, you should be sure of every possible situation before trying to look smart with sarcasm.
Of course I asked this question because in our situation we cannot get married, otherwise I would choose this way. We come from a country were divorce takes many many years and we are trying to understand if we can give our family (that soon will get bigger) some rights or not.

rinso · Post by **rinso** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 4:29 pm

We come from a country were divorce takes many many years

A registered partnership is in many aspects comparable with marriage.
One of the conditions is that you have no other legal partner.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 4:42 pm

We come from a country were divorce takes many many years and we are trying to understand if we can give our family (that soon will get bigger) some rights or not.

Well homosexuals cannot register a partnership if they're previously partnered or married either. Heterosexual registered partnership is also known as "marriage". Why the homosexual is not called "marriage" was a political cowtrade to appease the conservatives. Nothing else is different, so your question remains silly.

If you have a child together, the Finnish law automatically registers the man married to the woman as the father - so to declare paternity you have to go through a process, also if you want to pass your citizenship as the child automatically follows the mother's nationality.

blackdragone · Post by **blackdragone** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 5:07 pm

Thank you, your information are very valuable.
In the situation where we have a (registered) child together but we're not married (because of the long divorce going on), do you know if for instance we have some inheritance rights or possibility of taking important medical decisions? Of course we are registered to Maistraatti as living together in Finland.
Maybe these look as dumb questions to you, but for instance in the country I come from, in this situation I would even be allowed to visit him in the hospital room if something happens (and viceversa), because I am considered as a stranger officially. So... considering the upcoming child you can imagine my worries about these pessimistic scenarios.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 5:32 pm

A child has a "right" to both parents, and for example inheritance law makes no difference for the father between children from current/previous/open marriages or one-night stands. On the hospital visiting issue, say when the child is born, the mother needs to mark the dad up as the "nearest relative".

After a child is born "out of wedlock", within a few weeks the mother gets a notice from the maistraatti to inform the name of the child (as the child gets assigned only the ID number at the hospital) and also to "bring forth the father". Even for couples lived together for ages and with several kids, the process is the same. So after you go "explain yourself" at the maistraatti, and get "joint custody" so to speak, the "unknown dad" is the declared "father" - being married to the child's mother is then irrelevant. Basically, they want to make sure the child is being cared for - an unwed mother can demand child support for the baby, and if there is no father, the county has to pay the child support which obviously they don't want to do. (the kela child handout is a totally different thing)

Now as there is no such thing as a "birth certificate" in Finland, you can ask or sometimes explicitly demand a paper from the hospital (they might write one in English) that will "work" as one, but as far as the Finnish authorities go, their "certificate" is a printout from the population registry. I suggest getting the paper from the hospital as in say 10-20 years when the kid goes somewhere and some officials start to demand "a paper that does not exist" its easier to flick out some paper with an older than a current date to "look good". Also remember then about his and her embassies might want their own set of papers to register a child (and might be rude due to the parents not being married) and issue a certificate...

Then also, the residence permit for the baby (and passport as babies need their own) is one thing (usually goes with the mother's) - Finland doesn't grant citizenship just on the fact being born in the country except in very special circumstances, but if say you get a Finnish citizenship you can add under-18 children with your own application (mom or dad having custody). Over-18 having lived long enough in the country and gotten their education can then apply on their own merit.

Mook · Post by **Mook** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 7:32 pm

blackdragone wrote:You know Mook, you should be sure of every possible situation before trying to look smart with sarcasm.
Of course I asked this question because in our situation we cannot get married, otherwise I would choose this way. We come from a country were divorce takes many many years and we are trying to understand if we can give our family (that soon will get bigger) some rights or not.

No sarcasm there - marriage is the only option for a heterosexual couple to have any rights from each other (Pension, inheritance etc.)

interleukin · Post by **interleukin** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 7:36 pm

marriage is the only option for a heterosexual couple to have any rights from each other (Pension, inheritance etc.)

Are you sure? Didn´t there use to be a kind of "cohabitation contract" you could make? (I may be confused and it´s a Swedish thing, not Finnish).

Mook · Post by **Mook** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 7:47 pm

interleukin wrote:
marriage is the only option for a heterosexual couple to have any rights from each other (Pension, inheritance etc.)
Are you sure? Didn´t there use to be a kind of "cohabitation contract" you could make? (I may be confused and it´s a Swedish thing, not Finnish).

That's mostly for Kela, so they don't pay you so much benefits.

Even if their were a Hetero civil partnership, it would still have to be mutually exclusive to marriage... Imagine if you had both and then died - who gets the inheritance?

blackdragone · Post by **blackdragone** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 8:27 pm

Mmm looks like there is no way out, anyway it's good to know at least the child is protected. I'll try to get information at the hospital if at least I can legally name my partner for life-death decisions before the delivery. Thank you to all for the information.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 9:17 pm

The whole idea of the (same sex) "registered partnership" here is that it is exactly the same as marriage except for couple of explicitly stated exceptions (most important related to right to adopt children).

You can of course make a will (testament) benefiting each other, but it would not change the rights of a the legal spouse you may still have and you'd pay the highest rate for inheritance tax here while legally you would not be related.

AFAIK as soon as you have legal residence here you can apply divorce based on Finnish law. Assuming the spouses have not been separated for over two years it takes six months here, immediately if the have been separated (although I guess the requirement to properly notify the the other spouse may be tricky in both cases for you). I'd guess you'd prefer to have some professional legal consultation about all the relevant issues.

I think the "next of kin" is something they ask you (in case of pregnancy, the mother) to fill into the papers as a matter of routine.

Hpslm · Post by **Hpslm** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 12:22 pm

The mother really should get divorced before labor. Otherwise her current husband is presumed to be father and then you need to continue with repealing that presumption and even reading the corresponding paragraf of the paternity law feels demeaning.

Like others have said registered partnership is very similar to marriage and differs in certain details. But living in heterosexual relationship, you get those rights thru marriage. There's a new law about certain aspects of presumptions when avoliitto ends but I don't remember it from memory. It's called Laki avopuolisoiden yhteistalouden purkamisesta.

blackdragone · Post by **blackdragone** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 1:23 pm

All this looks tricky :S. Well, luckily it's my boyfriend who has to divorce and he's *legally* separated since 2 years ago and living together with me *officially* since 1 year ago. I guess this should not give us problems for all paternity matters. We still have at least one year to wait for the divorce... if we'll see the situation is hard because of the ex wife we can also think to get information on how to get a Finnish divorce, if it's possible... this all thing is a real mess. -_-

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