Item from the Smart
Marriages Archive, reproduced in the Divorce Statistics
Collection
April 18, 2000
French Couples Take Plunge That Falls Short of Marriage
By SUZANNE DALEY
ONTPELLIER, France -- Aline Fesquet, a 27-year-old school teacher, and
Frank Embert, a 29-year-old doctoral student, have been together for
eight years, but say they do not feel ready yet for marriage. Both are
children of divorce and they think marriage is a burdensome institution,
weighed down with religious connotations, likely to end badly and at
enormous expense.
But when France last year created a new form of legal partnership,
originally intended for gay couples, it seemed just right to them.
On a recent day, dressed casually in slacks and baggy sweaters, they
waited for their turn to enter into a civil solidarity pact, or Pacte
civil de solidaritÈ, known here as a "PACS."
The event took only a few minutes. A court clerk, HÈlËne Belin,
flipped
through their file, noting that neither was married, a parent or already
"PACS-ed" with anyone else. Then, she put a stamp on their contract
and
closed the folder. "That's it?" said Ms. Fesquet. It was.
Creating the PACS -- which gives couples some of the benefits and
responsibilities of marriage, but not all -- was no easy feat. No law has
been so debated in Parliament since France remade its Constitution in
1958. Begun as an effort to legalize gay unions, it set off furious
protests and demonstrations before finally passing in November 1999 as an
alliance open to couples of any kind.
But in the four months since the law went into effect it has proved
wildly popular. Experts predicted that perhaps 10,000 couples would be
interested in such unions in the first year. But already the numbers are
higher than that, and show no sign of slowing down. The government has
already recorded almost 14,000 PACS, many of them among young
heterosexual couples. To preserve privacy, it is illegal to keep
statistics on who has taken part in the ceremony, but some advocates have
estimated that about 40 percent are heterosexual couples.
Some say that while both gay and heterosexual couples are using the new
law, they tend to use it differently. For gay couples, who have no
alternative, the PACS is celebrated like a marriage. The couples dress
up, take pictures and have parties to mark the event. The heterosexual
couples, who like Ms. Fesquet and Mr. Embert tend to see the union more
as a trial run for a marriage, often don't even tell their parents.
"For us, it is a step forward in our relationship," said Ms. Fesquet,
"but without the family and all that baggage. And it is better because
everything is spelled out at the beginning so we would never need
lawyers, we wouldn't have to go in front of a judge. Maybe we will marry
later. But this is just a way of acknowledging a further step in our
relationship without going that far."
Mr. Embert agreed: "I think this is an evolution of our society that
this
exists. This is a middle ground."
Under the law, when a couple is joined in such a union both parties are
responsible for financially supporting each other. Any purchases and
debts are theirs jointly, unless otherwise specified. In three years,
they can file a joint income tax form and get the same tax break as
married couples. They are usually eligible immediately for the other
person's work benefits.
But a PACS is much easier to dissolve than a marriage and does not
require a lawyer to do so. If both are agreed, they can do it almost
instantaneously. Divorce in France is a lengthy process, usually taking
several years and involving several court appearances, and women often
complain that the process is biased against them.
In dissolving a PAC, though, if there is a dispute, one partner can give
the other notice and the union is dissolved in three months. The PACS
also does not speak about fidelity or children or inheritance.
On a recent day in Montpellier, where the number of PACS has been high,
Ms. Belin performed the ceremony for five couples, all of whom were
heterosexual. Four of the couples were young people under the age of 30,
almost all highly critical of marriage and its pitfalls. They hoped
without exception that the PACS might be the answer to acknowledging a
loving relationship, without making the same mistakes their parents made.
But most had some small administrative matter that had spurred the
decision.
For instance, Mr. Embert was hoping to go to the United States for a time
after he gets his doctoral degree in chemistry. If they are united in a
PACS, Ms. Fesquet will be entitled to a leave of absence from work to
follow him. And ChristËle Bouaye, a flight attendant for Air France,
wanted to give some of her benefits, including cut-rate flights, to her
longtime partner Dario Rengassany. Alice Glategny, a student, will also
likely receive her partner's work benefits.
But many of the couples still were unclear as to what the PACS is all
about. Ms. Glategny's partner, Cyril Vega, said he believed that the PACS
involved inheritance rights, but the law does not specify that. Mr.
Embert clearly had not calculated that he might lose some government
benefits allocated to unemployed students because he would now become
part of Ms. Fesquet's household.
While the couples all hoped that they were engaging in a new relationship
that would avoid the pitfalls of marriage, some experts believe that the
new law may eventually leave couples squabbling in much the same way as
those seeking divorce. Ms. Belin says that vast areas are not well
defined by the new law, such as whether one partner will ever owe the
other partner alimony or who will be entitled to take over the lease on
an apartment. And what happens if one of the partners does not want to
sell the property they both own?
"Some of these couples will get to the same place as marriage, believe
me," said Ms. Belin. "Because of public sentiment against it,
this was
not called a marriage outright, but legal scholars have been arguing that
it is a second form of marriage."
Some gay advocacy groups here are openly disappointed with the law.
Laurent Benavent, the president of the Gay and Lesbian Center for
Montpellier, says he will not enter into a PACS because it continues to
discriminate against gay couples. They must wait for three years before
receiving tax benefits. They do not have any rights to adoption, and
because most mayors in France wanted nothing to do with gay marriage, the
ceremony has been pushed into the back rooms of court buildings, unlike
marriages that take place at City Hall.
"It's a fake," said Mr. Benavent. "Plain and simple, we did
not get what
we wanted."
The new law made France the first traditionally Roman Catholic nation to
recognize homosexual unions. But many other countries in Europe have
already officially accepted gay couples, at least to some degree. Denmark
was the first European country to recognize same-sex partnerships in
1989. Nowadays, almost all Scandinavian countries do, as do Holland,
Switzerland and Belgium. In Germany, Italy and Spain such unions are
recognized in certain localities.
[In March, the Vermont House of Representatives approved the most
sweeping set of rights for same-sex couples in the United States. The
legislation, which the State Senate is expected to consider soon, would
create "civil unions" that give gay and lesbian couples virtually
all the
benefits of marriage.
[The legislation came in response to a Vermont Supreme Court ruling that
same-sex couples deserved the same rights as heterosexual spouses.]
The French law met fierce opposition from conservatives and the Catholic
Church, but surveys showed that nearly half the French people supported
PACS for homosexuals and even more wanted them for heterosexual
relationships. Supporters of the law argued that it would not undermine
marriage in a country where two million heterosexual couples already live
outside marriage and 40 percent of the children are born to unwed
parents.
Not all gays and lesbians are critical of France's new law. Some see it
as exactly what they wanted, because they too do not like what marriage
has become. Francois Vauglin, 30, a researcher, and Alain Piriou, 25, a
student, had their relationship confirmed by a PACS on Dec. 10, 1999, the
first week that it was possible.
They say they would never marry, even if they could.
"It is such a heavy thing, marriage," said Mr. Vauglin.
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