Preparing for the worst early on

Nobody wants bad things to happen, but sometimes life has other plans. If you are in a registered partnership and your partner were to become significantly disabled or even die as the result of an accident or illness, it is extremely important to have everything needed ready and in place. In these kinds of extreme situations, you will most likely neither have the time or the energy to take care of financial and organisational matters. Below, Generali expert Guido Studier sets out the most important things to bear in mind when these things happen.

Guido, what happens if an accident or illness leaves a partner in a registered partnership with impaired judgement?

If there is no living will or lasting power of attorney, it is automatically up to the state to step in and make decisions. For example, such as in situations where the signatures of both partners are required or if the partner with impaired judgement requires a care facility. In this case, the children and adult protection authority (KESB) is responsible.

If you want to retain your autonomy and don’t want to burden your partner with medical and legal decisions, you need to regulate everything that’s important to you with a living will and lasting power of attorney. This applies to registered partnerships as well as marriages and is generally recommended for every person who is at least 18 years old and capable of judgement.

What does a lasting power of attorney actually cover?

It allows you to proactively appoint a representative for yourself in the event that you are no longer capable of making decisions. This representative could be your partner, but it could also be a lawyer, a family member or a good friend.

Lasting power of attorney consists of three parts. First, the personal power of attorney determines where you want to live in the event that you need care, and who will be responsible for that care. The second part regulates who should manage the assets of the person concerned and how, and what business matters are important to them if they are self-employed. The third part of the lasting power of attorney covers legal matters.

Important: it must be written in your own hand or publicly notarised.

And what is the living will for?

A living will allows you to record the medical measures you want and those that you absolutely do not want to receive – resuscitation, artificial respiration or feeding?

If there is no living will, the medical staff must decide together with the partner of the person concerned. Or the KESB can appoint an advisor to take over. You should then leave your living will with your GP and your closest relatives.

Generali tip: Sample forms are available from the FMH, the SRK and Caritas.

Worst case scenario: death. What do people in registered partnerships in particular need to be aware of?

The division of the inheritance is clearly regulated by law. Normally, the registered partner and any children inherit the deceased person’s assets. If a couple have no children, the parents can also inherit.

The changes made to inheritance law in 2023 mean that the surviving partner from a registered partnership will be favoured a lot more. If the deceased person has a child, the surviving partner from the registered partnership will be able to inherent a maximum of 75% of the assets.

If there are no children, the surviving partner will inherit 100% of the assets because the parents will no longer be entitled to a statutory share. However, if you would like your assets to be distributed in another way, you need to draw up an inheritance contract or a will. This is especially true for home ownership, when you have invested a lot of money together and the legal heirs could insist on their share of the inheritance.

How is the surviving partner in a registered partnership covered in case of death?

Let’s take a look at occupational and private pensions. The surviving person is generally entitled to a survivor’s pension from AHV and BVG if the deceased person was employed. If the surviving partner from a registered partnership is a man, he will only receive the AHV pension if he has children under 18.

And there are conditions for the BVG pension as well. The best thing here is to contact a specialist. Under Pillar 3a, the registered partner is always the primary beneficiary. Under Pillar 3b, you as the policyholder can decide for yourself who is to receive money and how much.

In Switzerland, same-sex couples have already been able to get married for some time. What do they need to bear in mind when doing so?

Exactly. Thanks to the 2021 Swiss same-sex marriage referendum, same-sex couples have been able to marry or change their registered partnership to a marriage since 1 July 2022. When doing so, registered partners will have to actively have their registered partnership converted to a marriage.

What’s new is that, just as is standard for a marriage, the partners can now decide how to regulate any ownership of acquired property themselves in the marriage contract. There is still some uncertainty around the first and second pillar, which have to be adjusted for same-sex couples.