NETHERLANDS Trends and Developments Contributed by: Sandra Verburgt, Delissen Martens Advocaten
The Extent to Which Dutch Law Favours Married Couples and Registered Partners Over Informal Cohabitants There were few legislative developments in the Netherlands in 2024 as the Dutch political parties spent the first half of the year negotiating a new government, resulting in almost a standstill in leg - islative activity. At present, administrative divorce is not on the legislative agenda – although this issue is revived from time to time with the aim of reducing legal costs for citizens and the work - load of the courts, especially in cases where no children are involved, and has been raised again recently. It remains to be seen whether this will lead to legislation. In the absence of much activ - ity on the legislative front, this article will focus on developments in case law in recent years regard - ing the rights and obligations of cohabitants. Changing face of cohabitation in the Netherlands One trend that is certainly noticeable is the increase in other forms of cohabitation outside marriage. The most traditional form of cohabi - tation is still marriage, but there is also an increasing use of registered partnerships and cohabitation agreements. In 2024, 44.2% of the population aged 15 and over in the Netherlands were registered as “married” or “in a registered partnership”, whereas 41% were registered as “not married”, 9% were divorced, and 5.7% were widowed. There is an increase in the num - ber of couples living together who are not mar - ried (or who have not registered their partner - ship). On 1 January 2024, there were 1.12 million unmarried couples in the Netherlands, whereas there were 3.25 million married couples. Accord - ing to Statistics Netherlands ( Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek , or CBS), of these 1.12 million unmarried couples, 651,190 are couples without children and 469,620 couples have children.
In 2024, 88,673 marriages and registered part - nerships were solemnised in the Netherlands – of which, 64,057 were marriages and 24,617 were registered partnerships. In the same year, the CBS recorded that 61,062 marriages and registered partnerships were dissolved – 23,324 of which by divorce and 3,976 by termination of the registered partnership, with another 33,086 marriages ending due to the death of one of the spouses and 677 registered partnerships ending due to the death of one of the partners. It is notable that the number of divorces has fall - en in recent years. By way of example, in 2000 there were 34,650 divorces, whereas in 2024 there were almost 10,000 fewer divorces than in 2000. There is a trend for couples to marry later, to take more time to find the right partner and to prioritise their careers before settling down and starting a family. This may be one of the reasons for the decline in divorce. The other reason may be that there are no con - clusive figures on the number of couples who break up with a cohabitation agreement or no agreement at all. This is because it is not necessary to officially dissolve a cohabitation agreement. Sometimes it is enough to send a registered letter to the other partner. Couples who end a cohabitation contract do not (auto - matically) have to go to court. The procedure for separating is almost the same as for separating without a cohabitation contract. However, there is still a lot to arrange for cohabitees. Lack of legal protection for cohabitants What many couples do not realise is that there is a world of difference in legal rights and obliga - tions between married couples and registered partners, on the one hand, and cohabitants with or without a cohabitation agreement on the oth -
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