Being happily married now, civil marriages and other forms of living together aren’t high on my interest list, but I still found this Cyprus Mail article interesting.
Cyprus law does not provide for any other form of recognised cohabitation beyond marriage.
The matter came to the fore after authorities denied a 93-year-old woman a widow’s pension because she had never married her partner of 67 years who was also the father of her eight children. The woman had applied for a widow’s pension after her spouse – who had been making his social insurance contributions as long as he was alive – died in February last year.
The couple had been living together since 1943 and had eight children. They were not married because they were relatives by marriage – her brother married his sister – and were banned from doing so at the time.
This makes me think of the laws in historic perspective. Each and every law currently in existence has a history. Some time ago, someone somewhere had a need for a law being introduced or changed. There was a human being, a life, and likely more than one that would be affected by the law. How often do we really look back at and consider that?
You have to understand that lots of laws in Cyprus are “outdated”. But the Cyprus parliament has lots of serious issues to deal right now. The Cyprus problem, economic crisis and even illegal immigration.
I am sure that this law will change sometime, maybe together with some gay rights.
I agree. Any country, even a small one like Cyprus, is a very complex system with a lot of variables, participants, and forces. No single person is controlling it or even capable of controlling it – way too much information, politics, procedures, and plain old BS. :)