France is still refusing to recognize civil partnerships formalized in the United Kingdom, according to an article posted on Mondaq.com.

The article notes in passing that French authorities will not recognize a UK civil partnership for purposes of French inheritance tax, even though French law itself provides for a comparable legal status: the Pacte Civil de Solidarité (PACS). Although parties joined in a French PACS are treated like spouses for purposes of the French inheritance tax, parties joined in a UK civil partnership are treated as legal strangers.

The French refusal to give effect to UK civil partnerships, particularly while maintaining a French form of non-marital legal relationship, appears to contradict a European Union directive encouraging member states to recognize the domestic legal institutions of other member states.

The French position highlights a problem that undermines the strategy of extending marital rights, benefits, and obligations to same-sex couples through novel institutions that are separate from but parallel to marriage. Even two jurisdictions that have established such parallel institutions are sometimes failing to honor each other’s institution because of differences in names, formalities, or other particulars. There seems little justification for such a failure to give effect to another state’s parallel institution. The greatest political controversy surrounding these institutions tends to center on the initial decision to afford same-sex relationships any legal status at all. As between states that have already made that decision, however, recognition of each other’s legal institution should not entail great controversy, notwithstanding any minor differences in nomenclature or other particulars. On the other hand, the disruption to the multistate system and the hardship to parties resulting from the failure to honor these foreign but parallel legal institutions can be severe.

In contrast to the position of France, the UK itself treats French PACS as civil partnerships for purposes of UK law. See Civil Partnership Act 2004, c. 33, s. 215 & sched. 20.

The article, which also proposes a legal work-around for the inheritance tax problem, was provided by Majdoline El Abidi, a legal professional affiliated with Penningtons Solicitors, a UK law firm.