Lithuanian ministry considers Supreme Court appeal over partnership ruling

Lithuania’s Justice Ministry is considering whether to appeal to the Supreme Court after a regional court upheld a ruling requiring the state to register a same-sex couple’s partnership, LRT reported Tuesday.

The Klaipėda Regional Court rejected the ministry’s appeal and upheld a Kaunas District Court decision recognising the applicants as partners and ordering Lithuania to register their partnership. The ministry said it would review the ruling and assess whether grounds for a cassation appeal under the Civil Procedure Code exist.

The regional court said recognition of the women as partners was currently the only available way to secure legal recognition of their family relationship in Lithuania. It also found that they were entitled to apply directly to a court and upheld the lower court’s finding that the state, represented by the Justice Ministry, was responsible for registering the partnership.

The ministry said courts in partnership cases have been recognising the relationships and ordering state institutions to ensure registration, even though legislation does not set out a registration procedure or mechanism. It argued that recognition and registration raise separate legal questions and that the responsibilities of state institutions should be clearly defined and consistently interpreted.

The ministry also said enforcing rulings that require the state to register partnerships raises practical and legal questions. It said registration must have a basis in law, which Parliament must decide on.

Last April, Lithuania’s Constitutional Court ruled that the Civil Code’s partnership provisions were unconstitutional because they referred only to unions between a man and a woman and did not cover same-sex couples. The court also struck down a provision making the rules on unmarried couples’ shared lives dependent on a separate law regulating partnership registration. The ruling opened the way for courts to register gender-neutral partnerships until Parliament adopts detailed rules.

In August last year, a Vilnius court recognised a same-sex couple’s partnership for the first time, followed by similar rulings. The ministry has appealed four decisions so far, asking higher courts to assess whether lower courts exceeded their authority by recognising partnerships before Parliament passed legislation regulating them.