Dutch Civil Code

Book 10 Private International Law

Title 10.4 Registered partnership

Section 10.4.1 Entering into a registered partnership in the Netherlands

Article 10:60 Law applicable to the constitution of a registered partnership
- 1. The entry into a registered partnership in the Netherlands is subject to the provisions of Article 1:80a.
- 2. The capacity (possibility) of each of the partners to enter into a registered partnership with each other in the Netherlands, is governed by Dutch law.
- 3. In terms of formal requirements, a registered partnership can only be entered into validly in the Netherlands in front of a Registrar of Civil Status with due observance of Dutch law, on the understanding, however, that foreign diplomatic and consular civil servants may participate in the entry into a registered partnership in accordance with the requirements of the law of the State they represent, provided that none of the involved partners is or is also of Dutch nationality.

Section 10.4.2 Recognition of a registered partnership from outside the Netherlands

Article 10:61 Fundamental requirements for a registered partnership entered into outside the Netherlands
- 1. A registered partnership that is entered into outside the Netherlands and that is valid under the law of the State where it is entered into or that has become valid afterwards according to the law of that State, is recognised in the Netherlands as a valid registered partnership.
- 2. A registered partnership that is entered into outside the Netherlands in front of a diplomatic or consular civil servant in accordance with the requirements of the law of the State represented by this civil servant, is recognized in the Netherlands as a valid registered partnership, unless it was not allowed to enter into such registered partnership in the State where this action took place.
- 3. For the purposes of paragraph 1 and 2, the word ‘law’ includes rules of private international law.
- 4. A registered partnership is presumed to be valid if a certificate of registered partnership has been issued by a competent authority.
- 5. Irrespective of what is provided in paragraph 1 and 2, a registered partnership which is entered into outside the Netherlands can only be recognised as such if it concerns a legally regulated form of cohabitation of two persons maintaining a close personal relationship with each other, that at least:
a. is registered by a public authority competent to make such registrations at the place where this action took place;
b. excludes the existence of a marriage or another legally regulated form of cohabitation with a third person, and;
c. creates duties (obligations) between the partners that in essence correspond with the marital duties of spouses that the law connects to a marriage.

Article 10:62 Conflict with Dutch pubic order
Despite of Article 10:62, a recognition of a registered partnership entered into outside the Netherlands shall be refused if such recognition is obviously incompatible with public order.

Article 10:63 Application of statutory provisions to principal and preliminary issues
Articles 10:61, 10:62 and 10:63 shall be applicable, regardless whether a decision has to be made about the recognition of the validity of a registered partnership as a principal issue or as a preliminary question in connection with another principle issue.

Section 10.4.3 Personal legal relations between registered partners

Article 10:64 Law applicable to the personal legal relations between the partners mutually
- 1. The personal legal relations between partners themselves are governed by the law designated by the partners prior to or during their registered partnership, whether or not simultaneously with a change of a previous designation.
- 2. The partners can only designate a legal system which provides for a registered partnership itself.
- 3. In terms of formal requirements, a designation as meant in the present Article shall be valid if the formal requirements for such designation set under the law which is applicable to the partnership property regime have been observed.

Article 10:65 Law applicable to the personal legal relations between the partners
In the absence of a designation of the applicable law by the partners, the personal legal relations between partners who have entered into their registered partnership in the Netherlands, shall be governed by Dutch law. Where the partners have entered into their registered partnership outside the Netherlands, the personal legal relations between them shall be governed by the law, including the private international law, of the State where the registered partnership was entered into.

Article 10:66 Moment of applicability of another designated law
Where a designation as referred to in Article 10:64 leads to the applicability of another law than the one that was applicable prior to that, this other law shall be applicable as of the moment of that designation.

Article 10:67 Law applicable to obligations regarding costs of the household
The question whether and to what extent a partner is liable for an obligation which the other partner has entered into on behalf of the ordinary household, will be governed, if that other partner and his counterparty both had their habitual residence in the Netherlands at the moment on which they entered into that obligation, by Dutch law.

Article 10:68 Legally required approval of the other partner for performing juridical acts
The question whether a partner needs the other partner’s approval for the performance of a juridical act, and if so, in which form this approval should be granted, and whether the required approval can be replaced by a decision of a court or another authority, and which legal effects arise when the required approval is lacking, is governed by Dutch law if the other partner, at the moment on which the juridical act in question was performed, has his habitual residence in the Netherlands.

Article 10:69 Law applicable to the partnership property regime or to the personal legal relations is indifferent
The provisions of Articles 10:67 and 10:68 are applicable irrespective of the law which governs the partnership property regime of the partners and irrespective of the law applicable to the personal legal relations between the partners mutually.

Section 10.4.4 The partnership property regime

Article 10:70 Law applicable to the partnership property regime
- 1. The property regime of a registered partnership is governed by the law that has been designated for this purpose by the partners prior to the moment that they entered into their registered partnership.
- 2. The law designated as referred to in the previous paragraph shall be applicable to the entire property of the partners. However, with regard to all or a part of their immovable property or with regard to immovable property that will be acquired in future, the partners may designate, irrespective whether they have proceeded to a designation as referred to in paragraph 1, the law of the place (State) where that property is located.
- 3. In any event, partners can only designate a legal system that provides for a registered partnership itself.

Article 10:71 Law applicable to the partnership property regime when the partners have not made a choice of law
- 1. Where the registered partnership is entered into in the Netherlands and the partners have not designated the applicable law before they entered into that registered partnership, their partnership property regime shall be governed by Dutch law.
- 2. Where the registered partnership is entered into outside the Netherlands and the partners have not designated the applicable law before they entered into that registered partnership, their partnership property regime shall be governed by the law, including the private international law, of the State where they entered into their registered partnership.

Article 10:72 A change of the applicable law during the registered partnership
- 1. The partners may submit their partnership property regime during their registered partnership to another internal (national) law than the one that applied to it up until then.
- 2. Article 10:70, paragraph 2 and 3, shall apply accordingly in such event.

Article 10:73 Change of nationality or habitual residence has no effect on the applicable law
The law that by virtue of the provisions of the present Section (Section 10.4.4) is governing the partnership property regime or that has been designated by the partners as the applicable law, remains applicable as long as the partners have not designated another applicable law, even in the event of a change of their nationality or habitual residence.

Article 10:74 Determining whether the partners have reached consensus about a choice of law
The requirements to determine whether the partners have reached consensus on the designation of the law that governs their partnership property regime, are determined by that law.

Article 10:75 Designation of the applicable law (choice of law)
The designation of the law that governs the partnership property regime (choice of law) must be agreed explicitly or result otherwise unambiguously from the terms and conditions governing the registered partnership.

Article 10:76 Validity of the terms and conditions governing the registered partnership
In terms of formal requirements, the terms and conditions governing the registered partnership are valid if they are in conformity either with the internal (national) law applicable to the partnership property regime or with the internal (national) law of the place (State) where these terms and conditions were entered into. They must always be written down in a dated document that is signed by both partners.

Article 10:77 Formal requirements for a choice of law
The explicitly agreed designation of the law governing their partnership property regime (choice of law), must be done in the same form as the one that has to be observed for the terms and conditions that govern the registered partnership either pursuant to the designated internal (national) law or pursuant to the internal (national) law of the place (State) where this designation was made. The designation must always be written down in a dated document that is signed by both partners.

Article 10:78 Law applicable to the property relations of a partner towards third persons
The effects of the partnership property regime on the legal relations between a partner and a third person are governed by the law applicable to the partnership property regime.

Article 10:79 Registration that the partnership property regime is governed by foreign law
A partner whose partnership property regime is governed by foreign law may request for the registration of a notarial deed in the public register meant in Article 1:116, containing a statement that the partnership property regime is not governed by Dutch law.

Article 10:80 Protection of third persons against application of foreign partnership property regimes
- 1. A third person who has performed a juridical act during the registered partnership with a partner whose partnership property regime is governed by foreign law, may also after the ending of the registered partnership, provided that he as well as both partners had their habitual residence in the Netherlands at the moment that this juridical act was performed, take recourse for his debt-claim resulting from that juridical act against the partners as if there would exist a general community of property according to Dutch law.
- 2. Paragraph 1 does not apply if the third person at the moment on which he performed the juridical act knew or ought to have known that the partnership property regime of the partners was governed by foreign law. This is deemed to be the case if the juridical act was performed at a moment on which fourteen days have passed since the notarial deed meant in Article 10:79 was registered in the public register referred to in that Article.

Article 10:81 Advantage enjoyed in connection with the law applicable to an asset abroad
If one of the partners has enjoyed an advantage over the other partner due to the fact that an asset, located abroad, is governed by the law of a State that has been designated under the rules of private international law of the State where this asset is located, while this advantage would not have been enjoyed under the law designated on the basis of the provisions of the Dutch Civil Code, then the other partner may claim an equalisation or compensation of that advantage at the final settlement of the account made between the partners in connection with the ending or alteration of their partnership property regime.

Article 10:82 Application of Article 1:92(3) when recourse is taken against the partners
Article 1:92, paragraph 3, shall apply only where recourse is taken within the Netherlands against:
a. a partner whose partnership property regime is governed by Dutch law, or;
b. a partner against whom recourse may be taken pursuant to the provisions of Article 10:80.

Article 10:83 [repealed on 01-01-2012]

Article 10:84 Applicability of Article 1:131 (furnishing evidence of an entitlement to an asset)
The provisions of Article 1:131 are applicable even when the partnership property regime of the partners is governed by foreign law.

Article 10:85 Right to equalisation of accrued pension entitlements
Whether a partner is entitled, at the occasion of the ending of the registered partnership with mutual consent, to a part of the pension rights accrued on behalf of the other partner, is governed by the law applicable to the partnership property regime of the partners, except where it concerns Article 1 paragraph 7 of the Act on the Equalisation of Pension Entitlements after Separation.

Section 10.4.5 Ending of a registered partnership in the Netherlands

Article 10:86 Law governing the ending of a Dutch registered partnership
Whether a registered partnership that has been entered into in the Netherlands can be ended by mutual consent of the partners or through a dissolution and, if so, on what grounds, is governed by Dutch law.

Article 10:87 Law governing the ending of a foreign registered partnership
- 1. Whether a registered partnership that has been entered into outside the Netherlands can be ended by mutual consent of the partners or through a dissolution and, if so, on what grounds, is governed by Dutch law.
- 2. In derogation from paragraph 1, the law of the State where the registered partnership has been entered into shall be applicable when the partners have chosen for that law in their contract in which they have ended their registered partnership by mutual consent.
- 3. In derogation from paragraph 1, the law of the State where the registered partnership has been entered into shall be applicable where in the legal proceedings:
a. parties jointly have made a choice for that law or one of the spouses has made a choice for that law and the other spouse has not made any objections against this.
b. one of the spouses has made a choice for that law and both spouses really have a social bond with that State.
- 4. The way in which a registered partnership that has been entered into outside the Netherlands, is ended by mutual consent of the partners or through a dissolution, is governed by Dutch law.

Section 10.4.6 Recognition of the ending of a registered partnership which ending has been brought about abroad

Article 10.88 Recognition of an ending by mutual consent or through a dissolution proclaimed in another State
- 1. Where a registered partnership has been ended outside the Netherlands by mutual consent of the partners, the ending will be recognised in the Netherlands if the registered partnership has been ended validly according to the law of that other State.
- 2. Where a registered partnership has been ended through a dissolution that has been decreed outside the Netherlands after a proper administration of justice, the ending will be recognized in the Netherlands if it has been decreed by a decision of a court or other authority to which jurisdiction on this matter has been granted.
- 3. The ending of a registered partnership obtained outside the Netherlands through a dissolution, that does not meet one or more of the conditions stated in the previous paragraph, shall nevertheless be recognized in the Netherlands if it is clear that the other party in the foreign legal proceedings explicitly or tacitly during these proceedings has consented to the ending of the registered partnership or if it is clear that the other party after those proceedings has accepted the dissolution of the registered partnership.

Article 10:89 Conflict with Dutch public order
Despite of Article 10:88, the recognition of the ending of a registered partnership that is proclaimed outside the Netherlands shall be refused if such recognition is obviously incompatible with public order.

Section 10.4.7 Maintenance obligations

Article 10:90 Law applicable to maintenance obligations during or after the registered partnership
The law applicable to maintenance obligations which are relevant during the registered partnership or after the ending thereof, shall be designated by:
a. the Protocol regarding the law applicable to maintenance obligations, concluded at the Hague on 23 November 2007 (PbEU L 331/17), or;
b. the Convention on the Law Applicable to Maintenance Obligations, concluded at the Hague on 2 October 1973 (Treaty Series 1974, 86).

Section 10.4.8 Transitional law

Article 10:91 Transitional law
- 1. The present Title (Title 10.4) does not apply to registered partnerships that have been entered into before 1 January 2005.
- 2. In derogation from paragraph 1, Article 10:85 shall be applicable to the equalisation of pension entitlements in the event that the registered partnership was ended or dissolved after 1 January 2005.