Legal status of same-sex partners in adoption procedure: Recent developments in Slovenian law

Katja Drnovšek

In June 2022, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia delivered two landmark decisions with major implications for the non-discrimination of same-sex partners. The existing regulation that defined marriage as a union of two persons of different sex and prevented same-sex partners from jointly adopting a child was found to be inconsistent with the Slovenian Constitution, and the legislator was ordered to remedy the established unconstitutionality within six months. In the meantime, marriage is now considered to constitute a life union of two persons regardless of their sex, and same-sex partners living in a formal civil union may jointly adopt a child under the same conditions as spouses. The paper discusses these decisions with a focus on the rights of same-sex couples in the adoption procedure. It presents the legal background, analyses the reasoning, and explains the expected consequences.