GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Fotodotis Malamas, Bernitsas
9.3 Cohabitation and Unmarried Couples The recently enacted law of succession essentially equalises the rights of persons who have entered into a partnership agreement with those of married persons. For the first time, it also recognises specific inheritance rights for unmarried couples in informal cohabitation, ie, relationships without marriage or a cohabitation agreement. The changes for these two categories are as follows. Partners With a Partnership Agreement • Full equalisation: the law fully equates a partner who has entered into a partnership agreement with a spouse. • Intestate shares: the partner’s inheritance share is strengthened. Depending on the relatives left behind by the deceased, the partner inherits, immediately upon death, the prescribed percent - age of the estate. • Protection of the home: a right of exclusive use of the family home is provided for one year from the date of death. • Abolition of restrictions: previous restrictions that limited the partner’s share in certain orders of suc - cession are abolished. Unmarried Couples in Informal Cohabitation For couples who live together but have neither married nor entered into a cohabitation agreement, the new law introduces the following key provisions. • Right to the home: the surviving partner retains the right to remain in the shared residence for one year without any payment or consideration. • Inheritance right: the partner acquires an inherit - ance right in the fifth order (class) of heirs. This means that the partner inherits the entire estate if, and only if, there are no other relatives of the deceased at all, such as children, parents, siblings, uncles and aunts. • Conditions: for this to apply, the cohabitation must be proven to have been continuous and must have lasted for more than three three years before the death. In addition, the partner is required to file an application within four months from the date of death in order to claim the inheritance.
Where paternity is voluntary or judicially acknowl - edged, a child is treated as having been born to mar - ried parents, including in relation to matters pertain - ing to the child’s family name, support and rights of inheritance. Underage Children or Children Born Out of Wedlock According to Article 1486, an underage child has the right to claim maintenance from its parents to the extent that the income deriving from any property the child owns or from the product of the child’s work is not sufficient to cover maintenance expenses. Main - tenance is paid monthly in advance Where a child is born out of wedlock and its paternity is highly probable, and to the extent that the mother has become impoverished, a court may order protec - tion through the advance payment of a reasonable amount by the father to the child each month, to be set off against future maintenance payments, even before the filing of a legal action for acknowledgement of paternity. 9.2 Same-Sex Marriage Same-sex civil partnerships have been recognised since 2015. Domestic partnerships are recognised in Greece, with partners enjoying the same rights available to married couples. In 2024, Greece introduced same-sex marriage, giv - ing to same-sex couples the right to marry under the same conditions as opposite-sex couples. Same-sex couples can also adopt children. In cases where a couple does not choose a common surname, one partner’s surname can be appended to the other’s, preserving individuality while promoting unity. The recently enacted law of succession (Law 5303/2026, Government Gazette Bulletin A 81/22.5.2026) essentially equalises the rights of per - sons who have entered into a partnership agreement with those of married persons.
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