26

D E L E G I S L A C I Ó

Stable pair relationships

& Cohabitation situations
for mutual assistance

Act 10/1998 of 15th July,

regarding stable pair relationships

Act 19/1998 of 28th December,

regarding cohabitation situations
for mutual assistance

Generalitat de Catalunya
 «Quaderns de legislació» Collection, 26

STABLE PAIR RELATIONSHIPS

&
COHABITATION SITUATIONS
FOR MUTUAL ASSISTANCE

Generalitat de Catalunya
 The Catalan Library, CIP

Catalunya
[Llei 10/1998, de 15 de juliol, d’unions estables de parella. Anglès]

Stable pair relationships ; & Cohabitation situations for mutual

assistance. – (Quaderns de legislació ; 26)
Conté: Act 10/1998, of 15th July, regarding stable relationships ;
Act 19/1998, of 28th December, regarding cohabitation situations
for mutual assistance
ISBN 84-393-5113-5
I. Catalunya. Llei 19/1998, de 28 de desembre, sobre situacions
convivencials d’ajuda mútua. Anglès II. Catalunya. Generalitat
III. Títol IV. Col·lecció: Quaderns de legislació. Anglès ; 26
1. Parelles no casades – Dret i legislació – Catalunya
2. Companys de pis – Dret i legislació – Catalunya
347.628(467.1)(094)

The translation of these legal texts from Catalan was done

by Alpnet International Translation Services
and revised by Dr. Santiago Espiau,
Professor of Civil Law at the University of Lleida.

© Generalitat de Catalunya
Department of Justice
1st edition: Abril 2000
Legal deposit: B-15.449-2000
ISBN: 84-393-5113-5
Editing and production coordination:
The Official Gazette and Publications Independent Organisation
Printed by: Grinver, SA
CONTENTS

Presentation 5

Act 10/1998 of 15th July, regarding stable relationships 7

Act 19/1998 of 28th December, regarding cohabitation

situations for mutual assistance 24

3
PRESENTATION

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 designed a model which provided for two
territorial levels of government: the central State and the autonomous com-
munities. In the specific case of Catalonia, the Generalitat is the institution
through which our self-government is politically organised and it enjoys
legislative power with relation to certain matters, a power which it exercises
with a desire to modernise society and be of service to the citizens.
Going further than the developments experienced by the concept of fam-
ily in the western world, Catalan society has faced up to the challenge of
confronting new co-habitation situations involving a clear factor of affec-
tion, such as couples in fact, heterosexual or homosexual; and others based
upon the guarantee of mutual support in a permanent and stable manner,
especially between (or with respect to) the elderly.
It is precisely in order to provide a legal answer to these emerging so-
cial situations that the Generalitat of Catalonia, under the provisions of ar-
ticle 9.2 of the Statute of Autonomy, which recognises its exclusive com-
petence in matters of conservation, amendment and development of Ca-
talan civil law, has encouraged the approval by the Catalan Parliament of
two acts which I consider essential and innovative, but at the same time
prudent and well thought out. These two acts, which attribute legal effects
to certain co-habitation relationships, inspired in the principles of equity,
justice and responsibility, are the Act 10/1998, of 15 July, regarding sta-
ble pair relationships and the Act 19/1998, of 28 December, regarding co-
habitation situations for mutual assistance.
The first of these, which was a pioneer in the cultural ambit of latin
Europe, regulates stable pair unions with an affectionate relationship,
whether heterosexual or homosexual; the second deals with the new co-
habitational situations arising, above all, from the increased ageing of our
society and the need for mutual assistance.
In any event, we clearly understood that action had to be taken with
responsibility, not going beyond the context of reality, in the conviction that
the civil legislator —especially in matters affecting the daily lives of individu-
als, their legal situation and relationship with their environment— could not
afford experiment: the law has to follow society closely, accompanying its
development

5
 I am convinced that, with these two civil acts which have been trans-
lated, we have contributed to bringing law and reality closer together, always
remaining faithful to the idea that the law is an instrument for living and
that, as such, it has to be at the service and within the reach of the commu-
nity, of which it is the expression.
As minister of Justice, I would like to thank you for the interest you have
shown in these two regulatory texts, and I hope that this version in English
will meet your expectations of an intellectual and/or practical nature, and
also allow you to deepen your knowledge of the reality of Catalonia, from
the conviction that to know our law is to know a little more about this open
and plural country and the people who live in it.

NÚRIA DE GISPERT I CATALÀ

Minister of Justice

6
ACT 10/1998 OF 15th JULY,
REGARDING STABLE PAIR RELATIONSHIPS
(DOGC no. 2687, 23 July 1998, p. 9155)

THE PRESIDENT
OF THE GENERALITAT DE CATALUNYA

This is to inform all the citizens in Catalonia that the Parliament of Ca-
talonia has approved, and myself, in the name of the King, and in accord-
ance with what is provided in article 33.2 of the Statute of Autonomy, I
hereby promulgate the following

ACT

Preamble
Article 32 of the Spanish Constitution proclaims the right of man and
woman to marry with full juridical equality. It also establishes that the law
has to govern the forms of marriage, the capacity to marry and the rights
and duties of the spouses, as well as the causes for separation and dissolu-
tion and the effects thereof.
However, at the margin of marriage, the current Catalan society presents
other forms of union in cohabitation that are stable; some are formed by
heterosexual individuals who, despite the fact that they are able to marry
refrain from doing so, while others are integrated by persons of the same
gender who, from a constitutional standpoint, are not entitled to marry.
During the past years, there has been an increase in the number of the
so-called stable unmarried couples. This fact has occurred simultaneously to
the increasing acceptance that such couples enjoy in our society, which in-
cludes all of the types of couples referred above. Therefore, society also
accepts couples integrated by individuals of the same gender, so much so
that the Catalan population mostly believes that there should exist a legal
regulation for these forms of cohabitation.
Therefore, it is believed that the time has come to commence this leg-
islative task and our legislation should be aligned, in this sense, with the

7
incipient pre-legislative and legislative currents that emerge within the State
and within the states of our geographic and cultural boundaries.
Unmarried heterosexual couples have already been taken care of by our
legislation in some partial aspects referring to filiation, adoption and tute-
lage and guardianship. Indeed, on grounds of the in-depth survey that has
been conducted by using accurate and reliable sociologic data and of the
different solutions provided by comparative jurisdiction, which have been
duly analysed, and bearing in mind the debates on these issues that have
taken and that continue to take place at the Congress and at the Parliament
of Catalonia, the conviction is reached that it is appropriate to establish a set
of rules that are more complete and varied on the cohabitation of unmarried
couples, regardless of their sexual orientation.
Consistently with all that has been said so far, this Act assembles and
governs, separately from marriage, all of the other mentioned forms of co-
habitation, with a set of regulations that is also different from the regulations
that govern marriage, and which are specific for each of the cited situations.
This legislative technique fits in perfectly with the constitutional principles,
according to the jurisprudence line established by the Constitutional Court.
In compliance with this constitutional doctrine, marriage is a social
reality legally sanctioned by the Constitution, and the right that man and
woman have to marry is indeed a constitutional right. The marriage link
generates in wife and husband, ope legis, a plurality of rights and duties that
is not necessarily produced from a juridical viewpoint between the man and
the woman who maintain a stable cohabitation that is not based on mar-
riage. These considerations are applicable, without impediment, to the con-
siderations applying to homosexuals who cohabit matrimonially because
similarly to the factitive cohabitation between a heterosexual couple, the
union of individuals of the same biologic gender is not a juridically governed
institution, nor is there an institutional law with regard to the establishment
of this union, contrarily to the marriage between man and woman which, as
previously stated, is a constitutional right.
For this reason, marriage unions are regulated and governed in the
Family Code, while the remaining cohabitation relationships other than mar-
riage, which consists the basic element of the constitutional distinction, are
the object of regulation in the present Act, in separate chapters, while re-
specting the specific nature of each mode.
If a heterosexual couple who cohabits matrimonially does not get mar-
ried, it is because they have decided not to wed. A homosexual couple, on
the other hand, may not get married, even if the individuals involved are

8
willing to wed. The first couple is able to procreate biologically, while the
second couple cannot. Furthermore, within heterosexual couples who cohabit
more uxorio, a distinction can be made between those who reject any kind of
formalities and conventions and who, owing to reasons of juridical security,
are the object of a higher demand when it comes to asserting their rights.
Consistently with the stated premises, this Act is made up by two chap-
ters: the first is devoted to heterosexual stable unions, while the second deals
with homosexual stable unions.
As obliged, the legislative treatment of these two cohabitation unions
has conformed to the framework of the autonomous competences dealing
with this issue. Therefore, it has been necessary to exclude the questions
inherent to penal laws, the questions of a labour nature and those regard-
ing Social Security.
Basically, the Act develops civil law competences that belong to the
Generalitat, with abstraction of reserve of the exclusive State competence
with regard to the forms of matrimony, because the regulation of hetero-
sexual or homosexual unmarried couples implies the acknowledgement of
certain situations that are not necessarily comparable to matrimony, in ac-
cordance with what has been expressly acknowledged by constitutional ju-
risprudence, as mentioned previously. The Act also contains precepts that are
dictated as a development of the competences regarding the official duties
of the Administration of the Generalitat.

Chapter I
The Heterosexual stable couple

Article 1
Heterosexual stable couple
1. The provisions contained in the present chapter are applied to the
stable union of a man and a woman, both of age, who have no impediment
whatsoever to wed each-other, have cohabited matrimonially during at least
an unbroken period of two years, or who have executed a public instrument
stating their will to abide by what is established in such instrument. At least
one of the two members of the couple must be an official resident of Cata-
lonia.
2. It is not necessary for such couple to have children, although it is
necessary for them to cohabit.

9
 3. In the event one of the members of the couple or both should be
bound by a matrimonial link, the period of time of cohabitation lapsed until
the moment in which the last of the members obtains the dissolution or ter-
mination of marriage or, if necessary, the nullity, shall take into account the
above stated period of two years.

Article 2
Accreditation
The accreditation of stable unions that have not been legalised in a pu-
blic instruments and the lapsing of the above stated period of two years may
be made through any means of evidence that is deemed permitted and suf-
ficient, with the exclusion of what is provided under article 10.

Article 3
Ruling of the cohabitation
1. The members of the stable couple may rule validly, either verbally, in
writing by means of a private or public instrument or deed, the personal and
patrimonial relations deriving from the cohabitation and the respective rights
and duties. They may also regulate and govern the economic compensations
that are appropriate in the event of termination of the cohabitation, with the
minimum of the rights that are governed in this chapter, which are unre-
nounceable until they become enforceable.
2. If there is no pact or covenant, the members of the stable couple must
contribute to the sustenance and support of the household and to common
expenses with the domestic chores and by means of their unpaid personal or
professional collaboration or by means of the insufficient retribution to the
profession or business of the other member, with the resources from their
activity or their assets. If these are not sufficient, the members shall contri-
bute proportionately to the amount of their assets. Each member of the cou-
ple preserves the ownership, the enjoyment and the administration of their
own assets.

Article 4
Common expenses of the couple
1. The common expenses of the couple are those that are necessary for
their support, and for the support of any son and daughter, either common
or not, that cohabit with the couple, in accordance with their customs and
lifestyle, and particularly as follows:
a) The nourishing expenses, in the widest sense of the term.

10
 b) The expenses of preservation and upgrading of the dwellings or other
assets used by the couple.
c) The expenses deriving from preventative, medical and sanitary care.
2. The expenses deriving from the management and defence of each
member’s assets and, generally speaking, the expenses resulting from the
exclusive interest of one of the members shall not be deemed to be common
expenses.

Article 5
Liability
With regard to third parties, both members involved in the couple are
jointly and mutually liable for particular duties deriving from common ex-
penses established under article 4, provided that such expenses are appro-
priate to the customs and the lifestyle of the couple. In any other case, the
member who has contracted the duty shall be answerable and liable.

Article 6
Adoption
The members of a stable heterosexual couple may jointly adopt.

Article 7
Guardianship
Should one of the members of the couple be pronounced incompetent,
the cohabitant shall occupy the first position in the order of preference of the
dative offer.

Article 8
Provision of support
The members of the stable couple are obliged to provide support to each
other, with preference to any other person obliged.

Article 9
Benefits in respect of the official duty
With regard to the official duty of the Administration of the Generalitat,
the cohabitants enjoy the following benefits:
a) The benefit of voluntary retirement, with a minimum duration of two
years and a maximum duration of fifteen years, if the cohabitant of the civil
servant resides in another town owing to the fact of having obtained a defi-

11
nite position as a portfolio civil servant in any public administration, au-
tonomous body or managing institution of the Social Security organisation,
in constitutional institutions or Judicial Power governing bodies.
b) A two-days leave benefit in case of death or serious illness of the civil
servant’s cohabitant, if the death or the illness occur in the same town, and
a four-days leave if such events take place in a different town or city.
c) The reduction of a third or half of the workday, as well as the propor-
tional reduction of the individual’s basic wages and complementary earnings,
including the triennials, on grounds of the cohabitant’s physical incapacity,
while the individual cohabits with such cohabitant. This reduction is incom-
patible with the exercise of any other activity, regardless of whether it is paid
or not, during the time that is the object of the reduction, and may be submit-
ted to the rules that are established by the senior officials and top authorities.

Article 10
Special accreditation and legitimisation
In order to assert the rights stated in article 9, if the cohabitation has not
been made formal on a public instrument executed two years before the
rights in question are exercised, it shall be necessary to provide a notary’s
affidavit so as to certify the cohabitation and the lapsing of two years.

Article 11
Disposition of a common dwelling
1. The cohabitant who is the owner of the common dwelling or of the
furniture that is customarily used may not carry out any act of alienation,
encumbrance or, generally speaking, may not dispose of his own right in
such way that the use of such dwelling or furniture is endangered, without
the other cohabitant’s consent. If such consent is lacking, a judicial dictum
shall be required for any of the above acts.
2. Any act performed without consent or authorisation requested for
paragraph 1 may be annulled upon request of the other cohabitant within the
term of four years from the date at which such cohabitant has become ac-
quainted with the fact, or from the time at which the act is registered at the
Land Registry.
3. The annulment allowed in paragraph 2 shall not be appropriate when
the acquirer acts in good faith and in an onerous manner if, in addition, the
owner has stated that the building was not a common dwelling, even if this
statement is inaccurate. However, the person who has disposed of the build-
ing shall be responsible for the damages caused, in compliance with the
applicable Act.

12
Article 12
Termination of the relations
1. Stable unions are extinguished or terminated due to the following
causes:
a) By common consent.
b) If one of the members of the couple decides unilaterally to cease the
cohabitation. Such will shall be reliably and irrefutably notified by one mem-
ber to the other member.
c) By death of one of the members.
d) If the members have been physically separated for over one year.
e) If one of the members decides to wed.
2. The two members of the couple are compelled to leave without effect
the public instrument that may have been executed, even if this is done sepa-
rately.
3. The extinguishment or cessation implies the revocation of the powers
that any of the members may have granted in favour of the other member.

Article 13
Economic compensation
When the cohabitation ceases while the two cohabitants are alive, the
cohabitant who has worked in benefit of the common dwelling or for the
other cohabitant, receiving either no compensation or an insufficient com-
pensation in exchange, shall be entitled to be granted an economic compen-
sation from the other cohabitant, in the event such circumstance has caused
a situation of inequality between the wealth of both cohabitants that implies
an unfair enrichment.

Article 14
Periodic alimony
Upon the cessation of the cohabitation, any of the members of the cou-
ple may claim a periodic alimony, if such member needs the pension to pro-
perly attend to his own needs and support himself, should any of the two
following cases concur:
a) If the cohabitation has reduced the capacity of the applicant to ob-
tain earnings.
b) If the applicant is in charge of common children, in circumstances in
which his capacity to obtain earnings is reduced.

13
Article 15
Custody and visits of the sons and daughters
Upon cessation of the cohabitation, if the members of the couple have
common children, they may agree on which of them shall have the custody
of such children and the visits to the children to which the member who does
not have the custody is entitled. Should there fail to be an agreement, the
judge resolves in the benefit of the children. If these are knowledgeable or
twelve years old or over, the judge shall listen to their views before resol-
ving on the matter of the custody.

Article 16
Exercise of the rights
1. The rights regulated by articles 13 and 14 are compatible. However,
they need to be jointly claimed in order to ponder them appropriately.
2. The claim for the rights to which paragraph 1 refers shall be formu-
lated within the term of one year from the cessation of the cohabitation.
3. The payment of the compensation dictated in article 13 shall be made
effective within the maximum term of three years, together with the relevant
legal interests from the moment at which the acknowledgement has been
made. The compensation shall be paid in cash, unless there is an agreement
between the parties, or unless the judge, due to a justified cause, authorises
that the payment is made with assets of the obliged cohabitant.
4. The duty prescribed by article 14, in the event described in letter a),
shall cease, in any case, in the term of three years from the date at which the
first alimony payment has been made, for the general causes of extinguish-
ment of the entitlement to support and sustenance and at the moment in
which the person who receives the alimony weds or cohabits matrimonially;
and in the case of letter b), when the assistance provided to the children
ceases due to any cause, or else when such children are of age or are eman-
cipated, with the exception of the case of incapacity.
5. The periodic alimony shall be decreased or extinguished insofar as the
imbalance such alimony compensates decreases or disappears.

Article 17
Effects of the unilateral breakdown
1. In the case of breakdown of the cohabitation, the cohabitants may not
officially sanction a stable union with another person by means of a pub-
lic instrument until six months have lapsed from the date at which the afore-
mentioned cohabitants have left without effect the public deed of the pre-
vious cohabitation.

14
 2. Any act infringing the prohibition established by paragraph 1 shall
be null and void.

Article 18
Extinguishment or cessation due to death
1. In case of death of one of the members of the couple the cohabita-
tion of which is officially stated, the surviving cohabitant has the ownership
of the laundry, furniture and fixtures and household equipment of the com-
mon dwelling, and such items shall not be included in the surviving coha-
bitants hereditary assets. However, this surviving cohabitant does not gain
access to the ownership of the properties consisting in jewellery or artistic
objects, or other objects having an extraordinary value bearing in mind the
lifestyle of the couple and the estate of the deceased person, particularly
furniture previously belonging to the family of the decedent, or the portion
of such items belonging to the decedent.
2. During the year following the death of one of the cohabitants, the
surviving cohabitant is entitled to dwell in all of the common house, with
the faculty to take possession of such house, and to be fed at the expense of
the estate of the deceased cohabitant, in keeping with the lifestyle of the cou-
ple and in harmony with the importance of the estate. This right is independ-
ent from the other rights to which the surviving cohabitant may be entitled
by virtue of the death of the other cohabitant. There is an exception to this:
that the deceased cohabitant has granted to the surviving cohabitant the
general usufruct of the inheritance, with a temporary duration of more than
one year. This right is relinquished if, during the year, the interested party
weds or cohabits matrimonially with another person, or if such interested
party seriously neglects his duties towards the children that are common to
such party and the decedent.
3. If the decedent was the renter of the common dwelling, the cohabitant
is entitled to subrogate himself in the terms established by the legislation of
urban or city rentals.

Chapter II
The homosexual stable union

Article 19
The homosexual stable union
The provisions contained in this chapter are applied to stable unions of
couples formed by individuals of the same gender who cohabit matrimoni-

15
ally and who state their will to abide by these provisions in the form that is
provided.

Article 20
Personal requirements
1. The stable union that is the object of this set of rules may not be con-
stituted by:
a) Persons under age.
b) Individuals linked by marriage bonds.
c) The persons who form a stable union with another person.
d) Relatives in a straight line of consanguinity straight line.
e) Collateral relatives through consanguinity or second degree of adop-
tion.
2. At least one of the members of the couple must be an official resident
of Catalonia.

Article 21
Accreditation
1. These unions shall be accredited by means of a jointly executed
public instrument.
2. It shall be stated on the mentioned public instrument that none of the
members are included in any of the suppositions established in paragraph 1
of article 20.
3. These unions produce all their effects from the date of the authori-
sation of the mentioned document.

Article 22
Ruling of the cohabitation
1. The members of the stable couple may rule validly, either verbally, in
writing by means of a private or public instrument or deed, the personal and
patrimonial relations deriving from the cohabitation and the respective rights
and duties. They may also regulate and govern the economic compensations
that are appropriate in the event of termination of the cohabitation, with the
minimum rights that are governed in this chapter; these may not be given
up until they become enforceable.
2. If there is no pact or covenant, the members of the stable couple must
contribute to the sustenance and support of the household and to common
expenses with the domestic chores and by means of their unpaid personal or
professional collaboration or by means of the insufficient retribution to the

16
profession or business of the other member, with the resources from their
activity or their assets. If these are not sufficient, the members shall contri-
bute proportionately to the amount of their assets. Each member of the cou-
ple preserves the ownership, the enjoyment and the administration of their
own assets.

Article 23
Common expenses of the couple
1. The common expenses of the couple are those that are necessary for
their support, and for the support of any son and daughter of one of the
members of the couple, who cohabit with the couple, in accordance with
their customs and lifestyle, and particularly as follows:
a) The sustenance expenses, in the widest sense of the term.
b) The expenses incurred to preserve and upgrade the dwellings or other
assets used by the couple.
c) The expenses deriving from preventative, medical and sanitary care.
2. The expenses deriving from the management and protection of each
member’s estate and, generally speaking, the expenses resulting from the
exclusive interest of one of the members shall not be deemed to be common
expenses.

Article 24
Liability
With regard to third parties, both members forming the couple are jointly
and mutually responsible for particular duties deriving from the common ex-
penses as established under article 23, provided that such expenses are appro-
priate to the customs and the lifestyle of the couple. In any other case, the
member who has contracted the duty shall be answerable and responsible.

Article 25
Guardianship
Should one of the members of the couple be pronounced incompetent,
the cohabitant shall occupy the first position in the order of preference in the
dative offer.

Article 26
Provision of support and sustenance
The members of the stable couple are obliged to provide support and
sustenance to each other, with preference to any other person obliged.

17
Article 27
Benefits in respect of the official duty
With regard to the official duty of the Administration of the Generalitat,
the cohabitants enjoy the following benefits:
a) The benefit of voluntary retirement, with a minimum duration of two
years and a maximum duration of fifteen years, if the cohabitant of the civil
servant resides in another town owing to the fact of having obtained a defi-
nite position as a portfolio civil servant in any public administration, au-
tonomous body or managing institution of the Social Security organisation,
in constitutional institutions or Judicial Power governing bodies.
b) A two-days leave benefit in case of death or serious illness of the civil
servant’s cohabitant, if the death or the illness occur in the same town, and
a four-days leave if such events take place in a different town or city.
c) The reduction of a third or half of the workday, as well as the propor-
tional reduction of the individual’s basic wages and complementary earnings,
including the triennials, on grounds of the cohabitant’s physical incapacity,
while the individual cohabits with such cohabitant. This reduction is incom-
patible with the exercise of any other activity, regardless of whether it is paid
or not, during the time that is the object of the reduction, and may be submit-
ted to the rules that are established by the senior officials and top authorities.

Article 28
Disposition of a common dwelling
1. The cohabitant who is the owner of the common dwelling or of the
furniture that is customarily used may not carry out any act of alienation,
encumbrance or, generally speaking, may not dispose of his own right in
such way that the use of such dwelling or furniture is endangered, without
the other cohabitant’s consent. If such consent is lacking, a judicial authori-
sation shall be required for any of the above acts.
2. Any act performed without consent or authorisation requested for
paragraph 1 may be annulled upon request of the other cohabitant within the
term of four years from the date at which such cohabitant has become ac-
quainted with the fact, or from the time at which the act is registered at the
Land Registry.
3. The annulment allowed in paragraph 2 shall not be appropriate when
the acquirer acts in good faith and in an onerous manner if, in addition, the
owner has stated that the building was not a common dwelling, even if this
statement is inaccurate. However, the person who has disposed of the build-
ing shall be responsible for the damages caused, in compliance with the
applicable Act.

18
Article 29
Effects of the breakdown

1. In the case of breaking-off of the cohabitation, the cohabitants may

not officially sanction a stable union with another person by means of a
public instrument until six months have lapsed from the date at which the
aforementioned cohabitants have left without effect the public deed of the
previous cohabitation.
2. Any act infringing the prohibition established in paragraph 1 shall
be null and void.

Article 30
Extinguishment or termination of the union

1. Stable unions are extinguished or terminated due to the following

causes:
a) By common consent.
b) If one of the members of the couple decides unilaterally to cease the
cohabitation. Such will shall be reliably and irrefutably notified by one
member to the other member.
c) Due to death of one of the members of the couple.
d) If the members have been physically separated for over one year.
e) If one of the members decides to wed.
2. The two members of the couple are compelled to leave without effect
the public instrument that may have been executed, even if this is done
separately.
3. The extinguishment or cessation implies the revocation of the powers
that any of the members may have granted in favour of the other member.

Article 31
The effects of the extinguishment or cessation of the union, while the cohab-
itants are alive

1. When the cohabitation ceases while the two cohabitants are alive, the
cohabitant who has worked in benefit of the common dwelling or for the
other cohabitant, receiving either no compensation or an insufficient com-
pensation in exchange, shall be entitled to be granted an economic compen-
sation from the other cohabitant, in the event such circumstance has caused
a situation of inequality between the wealth of both cohabitants that implies
an unfair enrichment.
2. Any of the two members of the couple shall be entitled to claim a pe-
riodic alimony from the other member, should the former need it, in order

19
to appropriately attend to his own support, should the cohabitation have de-
creased the capacity of the applicant to obtain earnings.

Article 32
Exercise of the rights
1. The rights regulated by article 31 are compatible. However, they need
to be jointly claimed so that they may be appropriately pondered.
2. The claim for the rights shall be formulated within the term of one
year from the cessation of the cohabitation.
3. The payment of the compensation shall be made effective within the
maximum term of three years, together with the relevant legal interests from
the moment at which the acknowledgement has been made. The compensa-
tion shall be paid in cash, unless there is an agreement between the parties,
or unless the judge, due to a justified cause, authorises that the payment is
made with assets of the obliged cohabitant.
4. The duty of payment shall cease in the term of three years from the
date at which the first alimony payment has been made, for the general
causes of extinguishment of the entitlement to support and sustenance and
at the moment in which the person who receives the alimony weds or cohab-
its matrimonially.
5. The periodic alimony shall be decreased or extinguished insofar as the
imbalance such alimony compensates decreases or disappears.

Article 33
Extinguishment or cessation due to death
In case of death of one of the members of the couple the cohabitation
of which is officially stated, the surviving cohabitant shall be entitled to the
following:
a) To the ownership of the laundry, furniture and fixtures and household
equipment of the common dwelling and such items shall not be included in
the surviving cohabitants hereditary assets. However, this surviving coha-
bitant does not gain access to the ownership of the properties consisting in
jewellery or artistic objects, or other objects having an extraordinary value
bearing in mind the lifestyle of the couple and the estate of the deceased
person, particularly furniture previously belonging to the family of the
decedent, or the portion of such items belonging to the decedent.
b) To reside in the common dwelling during the year following the death
of the cohabitant. This right is relinquished if, during the year, the interested
party weds or cohabits matrimonially with another person.
c) If the decedent was the renter of the common dwelling, the cohabitant

20
is entitled to subrogate himself in the terms established by the legislation of
urban or city rentals.

Article 34
Intestate succession

1. In case of death of one of the members of the couple the cohabita-

tion of which has been officially stated, the surviving party has the following
rights in the intestate succession of the decedent:
a) Concurrently to the descendants or ascendants of the decedent, the
surviving cohabitant lacking sufficient economic resources to support himself
may exercise a personal action in order to claim to the heirs of the decedent
the granting of inheritance assets or the equivalent of the same in money,
up to one quarter of the inheritance value. The surviving cohabitant may
also claim the proportional portion of the fruits and revenues of the inheri-
tance perceived from the death of the deceased cohabitant, or the equivalent
of the same in money.
b) Should the decedent have no issue, descendants or ascendants, con-
currently to the collateral relatives of the decedent, up to the second degree
of consanguinity or adoption, of the children thereof, if they have died, the
surviving cohabitant is entitled to half the inheritance.
c) Should there be none of the individuals listed under paragraph b), the
surviving cohabitant is entitled to the whole inheritance.
2. In the case defined under letter a) of paragraph 1, the following cri-
teria need to be applied:
a) In order to establish the amount of the credit, it is necessary to de-
duct the assets and rights that the decedent has assigned to the cohabitant
in the former’s inheritance, even if the cohabitant renounces to it, together
with the assets owned by the cohabitant and the revenues and wages per-
ceived by the latter, which shall be capitalised for this purpose at the legal
interest rate of money.
b) The amount of the credit is limited to the properties or the money
necessary to provide the surviving cohabitant with sufficient economic
means so that he may support himself, even if the amount of the quarter of
the decedent’s estate is higher.
c) The credit in favour of the surviving cohabitant is relinquished by
waiver made subsequently to the death of the principal; by marriage, mari-
tal cohabitation or new relationship of the surviving cohabitant before the
latter files his claim; if the surviving cohabitant dies before claiming the
credit, and by expiry after one year has lapsed from the death of the prin-
cipal.

21
Article 35
Testate succession
In the testate succession of the deceased cohabitant, the surviving coha-
bitant is entitled to the same right provided in article 34, paragraph 1.a.,
through the application of the criteria established in paragraph 2.

Additional provision
While the State fails to legislate on the matters regulated by this Act and
on the relevant judicial competence, the regular jurisprudence shall proceed
to the acknowledgement of such matters by applying the established pro-
ceeding.

Temporary provision
The time of cohabitation lapsed before the present Act goes into effect,
between members of a homosexual couple, shall be taken into account for
the purposes of calculation of the two years to which articles 1 and 2 refer,
only if the two members of the couple and, if need arises, the heirs of the
decedent, agree.

Final provisions

First
The Generalitat, among its regulatory competences, must regulate by law
the specific fiscal treatment that is appropriate to each of the modes of union
to which this Act refers, with regard to the following taxes:
a) Personal income tax.
b) Death duties / Inheritance and Donation Tax, as regards acquisitions
through succession.

Second
If the State legislation provides the registration at the Registry Office of
the unions regulated by this Act, the effects granted by the Law to such
unions shall be understood as referred to couples who do register at the
Registry Office.

22
Third
This Act shall go into effect three months from its publication at the
Official Gazette of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Diari Oficial de la Gene-
ralitat de Catalunya).

I therefore instruct that all citizens to which this Act applies contribute
to its compliance and that the competent courts and authorities enforce such
Act.

Palace of the Generalitat, 15th July 1998

JORDI PUJOL
President of the Generalitat de Catalunya

NÚRIA DE GISPERT I CATALÀ

Minister of Justice

23
ACT 19/1998 OF 28th DECEMBER,
REGARDING COHABITATION SITUATIONS
FOR MUTUAL ASSISTANCE

(DOGC no. 2801, 8 January 1999, p. 213)

THE PRESIDENT
OF THE GENERALITAT DE CATALUNYA

This is to inform all the citizens in Catalonia that the Parliament of Ca-
talonia has approved, and myself, in the name of the King, and in accor-
dance with what is provided in article 33.2 of the Statute of Autonomy, I
hereby promulgate the following

ACT

Preamble
At the margin of marriage and of stable relationships led by couples,
Catalan society currently presents other forms of mutual assistance cohabi-
tation, particularly with regard to elderly people who attempt to solve their
difficulties.
On grounds of the juridical survey that has been conducted by using
accurate and reliable sociologic statistical data and the different solutions
provided by comparative jurisdiction –which have been duly analysed–, the
conviction has been reached that it is appropriate to establish a regulation
for situations of cohabitation of individuals who, although they do not
constitute a nuclear family, share the same home, are united by bonds of
kinship with no limit of degree in the collateral line, or based upon sim-
ple friendship of comradeship, and who join and share their patrimonies
and domestic chores, willing to mutually assist each-other on a permanent
basis.

Since these situations are highly heterogeneous and different from cou-
ple relationships, there is no reason whatsoever to restrict the number of
components to two, nor to exclude the siblings who constitute the main
nucleus of these relationships.

24
 In the current situation in which the population is progressively ageing
as a consequence of the prolongation of the life of individuals and the de-
creased birth rate, a protectionist legal regulation that encourages this type
of cohabitation may provide a solution for many elderly individuals, who
might find a way to solve the financial and social difficulties they are con-
fronted with. On the other hand, such regulation may also contribute to
prevent that such elderly people become isolated in geriatric institutions.
This Act is articulated in nine articles, a temporary provision, an addi-
tional provision and a final provision.
The legislative treatment of these cohabitation modes has been restricted
to the setting of the competences granted by article 9.2. of the Autonomy
Statute of Catalonia on issues regarding the conservation, modification and
development of proper civil law.

Article 1
Concept of mutual assistance cohabitation
The provisions in this Act are applicable to the cohabitation relationship
of two or more individuals in one same usual home. Although such indivi-
duals fail to constitute a nuclear family they share, based upon a will of per-
manency, common expenses or household chores or both things, regardless
of whether the distribution of the mentioned expenses and chores is equal
or unequal, and regardless also whether the economic burden is assumed by
just one or several of the cohabitants, and whether the household chores are
carried out by the other or other cohabitants.

Article 2
Components of the relationship
1. The components of mutual assistance cohabitation relations are in-
dividuals who are of age, who do not share links of straight line kinship, who
may be related through the collateral line with no limit of degree, or else
share a relation base on simple friendship and comradeship.
2. The number of cohabitants lacking the kinship defined in paragraph
1 is limited to four.
3. Persons united by a subsisting marriage or involved in a stable rela-
tionship are excluded from the definition provided under paragraph 1.

25
Article 3
Constitution and accreditation
Cohabitation situations that are the object of this Act shall be accredited
by means of a public deed or of a notarial affidavit through which the co-
habitation is legalised, from which the said cohabitation is fully effective. On
the other hand, the cohabitation shall also be legalised when two years of
cohabitation have lapsed, which shall be accredited by a notary’s certificate
or affidavit.

Article 4
Regulation
1. The cohabitants may establish either orally or by means of a private
or public deed the covenants that shall govern the cohabitation, their respec-
tive rights and duties, including the causes and rules for the extinguishment
of their cohabitation relationship.
2. The covenants may be modified verbally, by means of a private or
public deed, depending on what the parties establish.

Article 5
Extinguishment or termination of the cohabitation
1. Cohabitation relations become extinct owing to the following reasons:
a) Through the mutual agreement of all the cohabitants.
b) Through the unilateral wish of one of the members.
c) Due to marriage or establishment of a stable relationship of one of the
members.
d) Due to death of one of the members.
e) Owing to the causes established by the covenant made between the
cohabitants.
2. In the cases of letters b, c and d of paragraph 1, the cohabitation may
continue, with the modifications that might be necessary in the regulating
covenants between the cohabitants that do not share the will to extinguish
the cohabitation or, if that should be the case, between those that have not
been excluded by article 2.3 and the surviving members. When the cohabi-
tation is cancelled, it shall be necessary to revoke the public deed or notarial
instrument of constitution.
3. In no case whatsoever can the permanence of the cohabitation impair
the rights of the cohabitant or cohabitants who may have separated from the
relation nor the rights of the heirs of the predeceased member.
4. In the cases described under letters a, b, c and d of paragraph 1, the
powers of any of the members who, having separated from the cohabitation,

26
has granted powers in favour of the other member or members or who has
powers granted in his favour, shall be revoked.

Article 6
Effects of the extinguishment in respect of the residence
1. If there is no pact or covenant and the extinguishment takes place
while all of the cohabitants are alive, those who are not the owners of the
residence shall have three months to abandon the dwelling.
2. Still in the case of there being no pact or covenant, if the extinguish-
ment takes place due to decease of the owner of the residence, the remain-
ing cohabitants shall be entitled to continue residing in the dwelling for a
period of six months.
3. If the decedent was a renter of the residence, the cohabitants shall be
entitled to substitute the person in whose name the rental is formalised
during a period of one year, or for the amount of time that still has to lapse
until the extinguishment of the contractual term, if this is less than one year.
4. The situation of joint-renters needs to be resolved through agreement
of the affected parties; should this be lacking, the resolution shall be made
judicially or through arbitration. The judicial dictum may order a compen-
sation in favour of the most harmed and damaged cohabitants at the debit
of the other co-renter or co-renters.

Article 7
Economic compensation on grounds of work
When the cohabitation ceases during the lifetime of the cohabitants, the
one of these who works for the other cohabitant or cohabitants without re-
ceiving due compensation –should an economic inequality arise for this
reason which implies an unfair enrichment– shall be entitled to a financial
compensation at the expense of the beneficiary or beneficiaries. This finan-
cial compensation shall be fixed through agreement of the members involved
and should this agreement be lacking, the compensation in question shall be
settled by means of arbitration or judicially, bearing in mind the following
circumstances:
a) The previous pacts and covenants made between the parties.
b) The dedication to the other or others.
c) The duration of the cohabitation.
d) The financial means of the parties involved.

27
Article 8
Regular pension in case of death
1. Should the cohabitation cease due to death of one of the cohabitants,
the remaining cohabitant or cohabitants that were either partially or totally
supported by the decedent during the last year of the cohabitation prior to
the death who lack sufficient economic means to support themselves shall
be entitled to obtain an allowance for necessaries from the heirs of the de-
cedent, during a maximum period of three years. The amount of such pen-
sion shall be settled by mutual agreement of the parties involved and, should
there be no agreement, it shall be established judicially or through arbitra-
tion. In order to establish the amount and the duration, the following fac-
tors shall be taken into account:
a) The cost of the sustenance.
b) The amount of time during which the remaining cohabitant or cohab-
itants were supported.
c) The estate bequeathed by the decedent. The capitalisation of the pen-
sion, at the legal interest rate, cannot exceed half of the value of the estate
bequeathed by the decedent if the heirs are the descendants, ascendants or
collateral kinship up to the second degree of kinship of the principal, unless
they are minor or handicapped, in which case the limit shall be one fifth of
the value of the inheritance.
2. There shall be no entitlement to obtain a pension if this has been
agreed on the constitution deed of the set of rules governing the cohabita-
tion, if any.

Article 9
Expiration of actions
The actions to exercise the rights to which articles 7 and 8 refer expire
after one year from the ceasing of the cohabitation.

Temporary provision
The time of cohabitation lapsed before the going into effect of this Act
of the members of situations of mutual assistance cohabitation shall be taken
into account for the purposes of the calculation of the two years to which
article 3 refers, only if all of the cohabitants involved and, if necessary, the
heirs of the decedent agree to it.

28
Additional provision
1. In the scope of the competences assumed by the Generalitat in the
framework of Act 14/1996 of 30th December, on the assignment of State
taxes to autonomous communities and of complementary fiscal measures,
the situations of mutual assistance cohabitation have, in respect of the suc-
cession and granting tax and in respect of the acquisitions mortis causa of
one of the cohabitants in the inheritance of the other cohabitant, the assimi-
lation to relatives belonging to the III Group.
2. For the purposes of what is established in paragraph 1, the surviving
cohabitant or cohabitants shall accredit the existence of the mutual assis-
tance cohabitation by means of a public deed with which the relationship has
been formalised and legalised. Such deed must have been instrumented at
least two years prior to the death of the principal, or else by means of a
notarial act of the cohabitation and of the lapsing of the minimum period of
two years of such cohabitation.

Final provision
This Act shall go into effect on the day following its publication in the
DOGC (Official Gazette of the Generalitat de Catalunya).

I therefore instruct that all citizens to which this Act applies contribute
to its compliance and that the competent courts and authorities enforce such
Act.

Palace of the Generalitat, 28th December 1998

JORDI PUJOL
President of the Generalitat de Catalunya

NÚRIA DE GISPERT I CATALÀ

Minister of Justice

29
It is precisely in order to provide a legal answer to these emerging social
situations that the Generalitat of Catalonia has encouraged the approval
by the Catalan Parliament of two acts. These two acts, which attribute
legal effects to certain co-habitation relationships, inspired in the princi-
ples of equity, justice and responsibility, are the Act 10/1998, of 15 July,
regarding stable pair relationships and the Act 19/1998, of 28 December,
regarding cohabitation situations for mutual assistance.