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There are approximately 16 million international couples (either of different nationalities and/or living abroad) in the EU. They face legal difficulties and high procedural costs due to uncertainties over which national laws apply to their property. This is particularly the case when one of them dies, or when a couple separates (around 650 000 cases per year).

Many EU Member States have introduced specific provisions on same-sex marriages and registered partnerships that grant to homosexual couples a number of rights that differ according to certain patterns, depending upon the degree of differentiation from opposite-sex couples. While the effect on the personal status, the personal relationship and the property regime within the same-sex couple is often the same as in heterosexual relationships, the rights arising from the relationship between the couple ...