Registered partnership replaced by “marriage for all”

Until 1 January 2007, same-sex couples were only allowed to choose cohabitation. In comparison, registered partnerships made many things possible that were previously reserved for married couples. This concerned tax, maintenance, inheritance and social security law, for example.

However, a number of differences persisted in terms of civil law. It became possible for registered partners to apply for ordinary naturalization more quickly, but nothing changed for simplified naturalization, a route open to the foreign spouse of a person with Swiss citizenship in a married couple.

Unlike married couples, registered partners are not allowed to adopt children together. Nor do they have access to reproductive medicine. Unless otherwise agreed, they are also subject to a regime that corresponds to the separation of property under matrimonial property law. If a marriage is dissolved, the ex-wife and ex-husband are “divorced”, while former registered partners are given the civil status “in a dissolved partnership”.

Same-sex couples living in a registered partnership are not obliged to change their civil status, nor does it change automatically. However, if they wish, they have the option of getting married. They can either get married civilly or simply convert their registered partnership into a marriage. This is possible with little effort by making a joint declaration at the registry office for a fee of 75 francs. The cantons are free to waive this fee, as is the case in the canton of Zurich, for example.

In contrast to the rule for couples who decide to get married, the duration of the registered partnership counts towards the length of the marriage if the relationship is converted into a marriage. Marriage can be disadvantageous, for instance with regard to occupational retirement planning.

Swiss nationals living abroad should contact the nearest Swiss consulate to convert their relationship into a marriage.

When converting a registered partnership into a marriage under the “marriage for all” legislation, nothing changes for the partners in many areas of civil law, but there can be a significant impact in other areas.

“Marriage for all” ends unequal treatment under civil law for same-sex couples. However, like all married couples, they are affected by what is referred to as the “marriage penalty” under fiscal legislation.

This term refers to the fact that the income of a married couple is taxed as a joint sum. Due to the tax progression, this generally results in a much higher tax burden for two similarly high incomes than for a cohabiting couple, where each partner pays tax on their income individually. Since same-sex married couples are comparatively more likely to have similar workloads and incomes than heterosexual couples, the “marriage penalty” is even more common. This applies to federal taxes and is the case in most cantons. Its abolition has been debated for years.

Incidentally, there is a similar phenomenon with the OASI pension: when added together, the two individual pensions of a married couple may only represent 150% of the maximum pension. If the total exceeds this amount, the two individual pensions are reduced accordingly.

The step towards “marriage for all” does not entail as many changes for same-sex couples as the leap from cohabitation to registered partnership once did. In many areas – such as fiscal and inheritance law – nothing changes for a couple opting for “marriage for all”. Nevertheless, important progress has been made in some areas since 1 July 2022. The new rules and options mainly affect couples who wish to have children, naturalization as Swiss citizens, and the matrimonial property regime.