COMPARISON BETWEEN MARRIAGE AND COHABITATION AGREEMENT

With the introduction of the cohabitation agreement into Greek law as a third form of legal recognition for a relationship between two individuals, alongside religious and civil marriage, couples often face the dilemma of which model of partnership they should choose. For this reason, the following is a comparison between the two.
Initially, an important factor in light of current economic conditions is the significantly lower cost of a cohabitation agreement compared to marriage. For marriage, whether civil or religious, there is a need to gather a large number of certificates. In contrast, the process of entering into a cohabitation agreement before a notary is simpler and less expensive.
Similarly, a cohabitation agreement can be terminated with a statement before a notary, either mutual or unilateral. In contrast, a marriage, unless it involves a consensual divorce that can be concluded with a notarial deed, requires a judicial decision for its dissolution.
Regarding the relationship between the cohabiting partners, the provisions of marriage generally apply analogously to the cohabitation agreement, both during the relationship and after its dissolution, particularly in relation to claims for alimony.
However, one notable difference, in line with the more flexible nature of the cohabitation agreement, is that while a spouse may add the other spouse’s surname to their own, this is not permitted for individuals entering into a cohabitation agreement. Similarly, if the parents do not agree on a specific surname for the child, a child born within a cohabitation agreement will take both parents’ surnames, while in marriage, the child automatically takes the father’s surname.
The inheritance rights of the surviving spouse are similar to those of the surviving partner in a cohabitation agreement, with the only exception that while the provisions of the Civil Code do not allow a spouse to waive their statutory share in advance, Article 8 of Law 4356/2015 explicitly states that each party may waive this right when entering into the cohabitation agreement.
Finally, perhaps the most contentious issue regarding the cohabitation agreement is adoption. In the absence of specific provisions in the relevant legislation, it is accepted that the Civil Code’s provisions on adoption can apply analogously to heterosexual couples, but not to same-sex couples. This is because, by common understanding, if the legislator’s intent had been to extend the right to adopt to same-sex couples, this would have been explicitly included in Law 4356/2015.