LEGAL MODELS FOR MARRIAGE AND MARRIAGE-LIKE UNIONS IN THE LAW OF EU STATES

Abstract

The article considers the comparative and legal grounds for the definition of the category "marriage" in family law of Ukraine, interpretation of the concept of "marriage-like unions" in legislation, judicial decisions and legal doctrine of EU states. The author defines the characteristics and peculiarities of these concepts, outlines the approaches to the regulation of family relations in this field and formulates conclusions and proposals aimed at the harmonization of national legislation with EU law. In the article, both general scientific and special legal methods of research have been used. In particular, comparative-legal, historical, formallogical and other methods have been applied. The article concludes that the example of some European states proves the existence of the advanced legislative approaches to the legal understanding of family unions. In Ukraine the marriage is exclusively a family union of a female and a male registered with the state registration authority for civil status acts. In the laws of EU states different and much broader criteria for treating such unions can be applied. The presence of various legal forms of unions indicates that foreign law recognizes a family union between persons irrespective of their genders and recognizes such family union as a family. It is said that a characteristic feature for a family is a stable relationship. At the same time, harmonization of the Ukrainian legislation with the EU legislation in the field of marriage and family relations may take place on specific issues (for example, a registered partnership), but it is not advisable to adopt a foreign legal model, since in Ukraine there are distinctive factors for the formation of family relationships, such as traditions, religion, culture.