On 16 June 2022, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia ruled that the statutory provisions in the part of the Family Code and the previously applicable Marriage and Family Relations Act which stipulate that marriage is the union of husband and wife are incompatible with the Constitution. It also ruled that the regulation of the possibility of joint adoption of a child, which was provided only for spouses in the Marriage and Family Relations Act and in the Family Code, which provided for the possibility of joint adoption of a child only for spouses or cohabiting partners, was incompatible with the Constitution.

In accordance with the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia, the Act Amending the Family Code was adopted, published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, number 5/23, and enters into force on the fifteenth day following its publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, i.e. on 31 January 2023. Until the entry into force of the Act, the regime adopted by the Constitutional Court applies, namely that marriage is considered to be a life union between two persons and that joint adoption by same-sex partners living in a civil union is subject to the same rules as those applicable to joint adoption by spouses under the current statutory regime. Thus, same-sex partners can already, on the basis of the Constitutional Court decision, conclude a marriage and jointly adopt a child.
The same applies to the definition of cohabitation as a long-term living union of two persons.

The amendment to the Family Code provides for a change in the definition of marriage and cohabitation for opposite-sex and same-sex partners. The Act defines marriage as a life union of two persons and no longer as a life union of husband and wife. The same applies to the definition of cohabitation as a long-term life union between two persons.

The change places partners in these unions on an equal footing regarding all the legal consequences of marriage and in other areas of law laid down by the Family Code, including the conditions laid down by the Family Code for the adoption of a child. Under the provisions of the Family Code, spouses or cohabiting partners may jointly adopt a child, or one of them may adopt the child of his or her spouse or cohabiting partner.

As the Act defines both forms of life unions for opposite-sex and same-sex partners in the same way, the special regulation of both forms of life unions for same-sex partners only in the Civil Union Act is no longer necessary, and the amendment to the Code also provides for the termination of the Civil Union Act and an interim period of its application.

The amended Code also provides for the way in which existing civil unions can be transformed into marriages.

A civil union shall be transformed into a marriage if, within six months of the entry into force of this Act, the partners of the civil union declare before the registrar their consent to the transformation of the civil union into a marriage. For this purpose, the administrative unit shall, within 15 days of the entry into force of this Act, inform the partners of the transformation of the civil union into a marriage (by declaration or by proclamation of concluding a marriage), of the options for dissolving the civil union (by declaration or ex officio), of the time limit for making the declaration of transformation into a marriage or dissolution of the civil union, of the legal consequences of the declaration made, and of the legal consequences of failing to make the declaration within the time limit prescribed.

As regards the transformation of a civil union, the Act provides:

• If, within six months after the entry into force of this Act, the partners of a civil union declare before the registrar that they wish to transform the civil union into a marriage by concluding a marriage in accordance with the provisions of the Family Code, the civil union shall be transformed into a marriage by declaring that the marriage between them has been concluded.
• If, within six months after the entry into force of this Act, the partners of a civil union or one of them declares before the registrar that he or she does not wish the civil union to be transformed into a marriage under this Act, the civil union shall be dissolved as from the date of the declaration.
• If, within six months after the entry into force of this Act, the partners of a civil union do not declare before the registrar that they wish the civil union to be transformed into a marriage, the civil union shall be dissolved six months after the entry into force of this Act.
• The Act also provides that a civil union shall not be dissolved six months after the entry into force of this Act if the partners in the civil union do not declare, for justified reasons, that they wish to transform the civil union into a marriage under this Act within that period. The partners of a civil union may make a declaration of transformation of the civil union to a marriage within two months of the cessation of those reasons. In such cases, however, the Civil Union Act shall continue to apply after the expiry of the period referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article.

The marriage concluded between persons of the same sex shall be entered in the register of marriages. The Rules on the implementation of the Register of Deaths, Births and Marriages Act provide for several versions of the extract from the register of marriage. Partners can choose between a form with the indication of gender (husband – husband / wife – wife) or without the indication of gender (information on spouses). The issue of the marriage certificate and the extract from the register of marriage is exempt from fees.

The administrative unit with which the civil union was concluded or registered has territorial jurisdiction to inform the partners of the civil union, to conduct the procedure for the transformation of the civil union into a marriage and to enter the transformation in the register.