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Faculty of Law, University of Travnik , Travnik , Bosnia and Herzegovina
The institute of the extramarital union in family law of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be examined in detail in the paper, with special emphasis to the position of the extramarital union partner as inheritor in the inheritance proceedings. The extramarital union is a union of a man and a woman of which neither is married, that has lasted for at least three years, or less if it produced a child by the participants. This is how the extramarital union is defined and determined in the Family law of the Federation and of Brčko District. In Family law of Republic Srpska the extramarital union is defined as being a union of a man and a woman (extramarital union partners) between which there are no marital obstacles and which has lasted at least two years or less if it had produced a child. Given this fact, the inheritance position of the extramarital union partner is differently regulated in B&H. The inheritance position of the extramarital union partners is significantly made more difficult by the need to prove the existence of the extramarital union. In the results of the paper possible solution to this problem will be indicated in the form of the need to register the extramarital unions. Likewise, a thought will be given to the possibility of introducing certain rebuttable legal presumptions to benefit the extramarital union partners. In this way the position of the extramarital union partner in inheritance proceedings would be enhanced and the shifting of the burden of proof from the extramarital union partners to the inheritors disputing the existence of the extramarital union would be achieved.
extramarital union, extramarital union partner, inheritance proceedings, inheritance by extramarital union partners
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