Legal difficulties for MISSEG (also called “rainbow”) families in Europe

Abstract

This text sums up the various legal difficulties that “rainbow families” do or may encounter in European countries nowadays. By “rainbow families” — a broader notion than same-sex couple — we mean families whose founding couple include one or more LGBTIQ individuals. This text deals with issues concerning both the relationship between the couple’s members (access to a form of legal union, protection of the couple’s patrimonial and extra-patrimonial interests) and the relationship between the couple and their child or children (ability to have children and to establish and maintain a relationship with them).