Cohabitation will not have the same legal footing as marriage, Parliament decided on June 11 2009 after adopting texts of the new Family Code on second reading.
 
The recognition of cohabitation as the legal equivalent of marriage was backed by one of the ruling coalition partners, the National Movement for Stability and Progress, but lacked support from other parties.
 
According to various data, about 300 000 couples currently cohabit in Bulgaria outside of marriage, leaving their children disadvantaged compared to the children of married couples. The amendment would have addressed that by automatically granting children of unmarried couples the same rights as those of married couples.
 
Currently, men who are not married to the mother of their child must formally recognise the child as their own, while married couples don’t have to do that. That way many children face the possibility of not being recognised by their fathers.
 
This, according to Bulgarian-language Dnevnik daily, makes Bulgaria only the third country in Europe, alongside Russia and Moldova, that fails to recognise cohabitation as a legal equivalent to marriage.
  
Parliament also adopted changes to international adoptions. This amendment gives authorities the right to put a child up for adoption in case biological parents have withheld contact for six months.
 
The amendment was put forward by the Justice Ministry and the Association of organisations accredited to serve as intermediaries in international adoption procedures. It also had the support of the Social and Labour Policy Ministry.
 
It is aimed at solving problems faced by many children currently abandoned in homes who lack parental consent for being put up for adoption, an obstacle that stalls or eliminates the process of their adoption.       
 
Another amendment was the introduction of pre-nuptial contracts that regulate which of the spouses will have to pay alimony in case of divorce and who will get custody of children and possession of the family home.
 
Under current Bulgarian law, all family property and assets acquired after a marriage must be divided equally in case of divorce.  This tends to turn divorce cases into prolonged processes. With the introduction of pre-nuptial agreements, the plan is for cases to last no longer than one court sitting.
 
Parliament also enabled fast-track divorces. Currently, in order to get a divorce on grounds of mutual consent a couple could apply for one only after three years of marriage. The new amendment makes it possible to get a divorce a day after the wedding.  
 
The amendments are the first substantial revisions to the Family Code since the current version was introduced in 1985, after some minor tinkering in 2003.