E-TRAINING ON EU FAMILY PROPERTY REGIMES (EU-FAMPRO)

Project website: https://www.euro-family.eu/lit-home

Researchers from the Institute of Law of the Lithuanian Social Sciences Centre (hereandafter - The Institute), together with partners from Italy, Spain, Slovenia and Croatia, are implementing the project "E-training on EU Family Property Regimes" (EU-FamPro), which is partly funded by the European Union (EU) under the Justice Programme 2014-2020.

On 1st of January 2020, there were 13.5 million people living in EU Member States who had the nationality of another EU Member State, i.e. 3.0% of the EU population lived outside their home Member State. Naturally, many of these people have started families, often with spouses or partners of other nationalities. It was also common for couples sharing the same nationality to live in a different country from their country of origin.

However, being a cross-border couple is not always easy. In addition to the practical and emotional difficulties they often face, there are also challenges in the legal sphere. The set of legal rules governing the different aspects of cross-border relationships is much more complex than the provisions governing the situation of same nationality couples living in their own country. In the case of cross-border couples, there are often uncertainties about international jurisdiction and applicable law, as the laws of more than one country may apply.

To give cross-border couples more legal certainty and predictability, the EU has adopted a series of instruments, often collectively referred to as EU private international family law. Two recent EU instruments in the area of family law are Regulation 1103/2016 implementing enhanced cooperation in matters of jurisdiction, applicable law and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial property regimes and Regulation 1104/2016 implementing enhanced cooperation in matters of jurisdiction, applicable law and the recognition and enforcement of judgments on the property consequences of registered partnerships, often referred to together as the "Twin" Regulations. Covering the legal aspects of property regimes of cross-border couples, these Regulations have proved to be an important part of the European family law puzzle in the years since their adoption.

– offer e-learning courses and materials related to the Twinning Regulations;
– create an international network of EU legal professionals specialising in the Twinning Regulations and improve their cooperation;
– promote the effective application of EU family law instruments.

To achieve these objectives, the project will develop a pilot course on the MOODLE platform for at least 200 professionals from EU countries. The course will then be revised and expanded to become a Massive On-line Course (MOOC) available on the EDUOPEN self-learning platform. The MOOC will be attended by at least 500 professionals from all European countries and will remain free of charge for at least two years after the end of the project.

The main results of the project will be a better knowledge of EU property regimes among a large number of legal professionals and an improved European legal culture on international dispute resolution. It is expected that this improved knowledge will eventually lead to better quality legal services for international couples.

Together with the Institute, the project is being implemented by the project coordinators Università degli Studi di Camerino (Italy), Universidad de Almería (Spain), University of Liubljana (Slovenia) and the Faculty of Law of the University of Rijeka (Sveučilište u Rijeci, Pravni Fakultet, Croatia). The project leader is Prof. Lucia Ruggeri (University of Camerino, Italy). The research team for the Lithuanian part consists of: project leader Dr. Agnė Limantė, Dr. Eglė Kavoliūnaitė-Ragauskienė and PhD Simona Vilkelytė.

The project is part-funded by the European Union under the Justice Programme 2014-2020, Contract No 101008404-JUST-AG-2020/JUST-JTRA-EJTR-AG-2020.

Project duration: 2021-04-15–2023-04-14.

The project budget is more than EUR 364,000.

Project partners:

EU-FamPro is supported by 26 organisations:

PROJECT NEWS

„The EU Regulations on Matrimonial Property and Property of Registered Partnerships“ published by Intersentia

„The EU Regulations on Matrimonial Property and Property of Registered Partnerships“ published by prestigious Intersentia.

The book analyses two recent EU family law instruments, the Regulation on the legal regime applicable to matrimonial property (Regulation (EU) 2016/1103) and the Regulation on the property consequences of registered partnerships (Regulation (EU) 2016/1104), together referred to as the 'twin' regulations. The book aims not only to shed light on the substance of the provisions of the Regulations, but also to take a broader look at and discuss issues that are closely related to the legal regimes of matrimonial and partner property. The authors also review the relevant case law of the CJEU and national case law.

The book has been written by scholars from five EU countries: Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Croatia and Lithuania. The scientific editors of the book are Dr Lucia Ruggeri, professor at the University of Camerino, Agnė Limantė, senior researcher at the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences' Institute of Law, and Dr Neža Pogorelčnik Vogrinc, associate professor at the University of Ljubljana.

The book was produced in the framework of the EU co-funded project "E-learning on the European Union Regulations on matrimonial property regimes for international couples" ("EU-FamPro").

You can download the eBook for free online.

Translation of the book "EU Regulations on matrimonial property regimes and the property consequences of registered partnerships" into Lithuanian language is available

The Institute of Law of the Lithuanian Social Science Centre has published a book "EU Regulations on matrimonial property regimes and the property consequences of registered partnerships". The book is a translation into Lithuanian of the soon to be published book "The EU Regulations on Matrimonial Property and Property of Registered Partnerships" by Intersentia.

The book analyses two recent EU family law instruments, the Regulation on the legal regime applicable to matrimonial property (Regulation (EU) 2016/1103) and the Regulation on the property consequences of registered partnerships (Regulation (EU) 2016/1104), together referred to as the "twin" Regulations. The book aims not only to shed light on the substance of the provisions of the Regulations, but also to take a broader look at and discuss issues that are closely related to matrimonial and partner property regimes. The authors also review the relevant case law of the CJEU and national case law.

The book was written by researchers from five EU countries - Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Croatia and Lithuania. The scientific editors of the book are Prof. Dr Lucia Ruggeri from the University of Cameroon, Agnė Limantė, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Law, Lithuanian Centre of Social Sciences, and Assoc. Prof. Dr Neža Pogorelčnik Vogrinc from the University of Ljubljana

This book has been produced as part of the EU co-funded project "E-learning on the European Union Regulations on matrimonial property regimes for international couples" ("EU-FamPro"). This project brings together researchers from the Universities of Camerino (Italy), Rijeka (Croatia), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Almeria (Spain) and the Institute of Law of the Lithuanian Social Science Centre (Lithuania).

The e-book can be downloaded for free here and the original English edition will be available on the Intersentia website.

Open Access online version of „The EU Regulations on Matrimonial Property and Property of Registered Partnerships“ is available on Intersentia website.

New commentary on the Twinning Regulations published

It is a publication in which a team of legal experts, including lawyers, notaries and academics, consistently analyse the text of each article of Regulations 1103/2016 and 1104/2016. The authors focus on the new provisions as well as the current case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the Member States.

This commentary will help you to become better acquainted with both Regulations and to understand each of their articles separately.

The Commentary is open access and can be found online.

EU-FAMPRO course: first webinar (Webinar 1)

The "E-training on EU Family Property Regimes" was successfully launched on 4th of April 2022.

Following the introductory webinar on Monday, we continued the webinar series with the first webinar (Webinar 1) on 8th of April. The first part of the webinar consisted of lectures by Agnė Limantė (Scope of the ratione materiae, ratione personae, ratione temporis and ratione loci of the Twinning Regulations), Helena Da Mota (Practical Issues on the Scope of the Twinning Regulations) and Francesco Giacomo Vitterbo (Exceptions from the Material Scope of the Twinning Regulations). The lectures were followed by an interactive seminar led by María José Cazorla González and Danijela Vrbljanac.

EU-FamPro team publishes a new book on family law in the public domain

Research activities within the EU-FamPro project

The project has produced a significant amount of research and several important high-impact scientific publications. In addition, international scientific conferences and webinars are organised.

The project produced the following scientific publications:

• The Regulation of Matrimonial Property and Property of Registered Partnerships. Edited by L. Ruggeri, A. Limantė, N. Pogorelčnik Vogrinc. Intersentia, 2022. Published by the prestigious Intersentia publishing house. The book has been translated into the five languages of the project partner countries and published in their respective countries.
• European Family Property Relations Article by Article. Commentary on EU Regulations 1103 and 1104/2016. Edited by L. Ruggeri and R. Garetto. Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, Napoli 2021.
• Cross-Border Couples Property Regimes in Action Before Courts. Understanding the EU Regulations 1103 And 1104/2016 . Edited by L. Ruggeri and Cazorla. Dykinson, 2022.
• Scientific articles in national and international journals and popular science articles by project participants (https://www.euro-family.eu/eu-lista_eventi).

International conferences and webinars organised / hosted:

• International scientific conference “Legal Professionals as Key Actors in Applying EU Law on Couples’ Property and Succession”. Brussels (Belgium), 2 March 2022.
• International scientific conference “Sense and Sensibility in Cross-Border Cases: Couples’ Property”. More information on website. Rijeka (Croatia), 30 June 2022.
• International Conference "Couples' Property with cross-border Implications: Uniting Academic Discussions and Practical Concerns" and Workshop "Practical Challenges in the Application of the Twin Regulations" in Almeria (Spain), 19 September 2022. More information on this link.
• Seven webinars for training participants.
• Scientific and R&D events in the project countries (book presentations, roundtable discussions, etc.).

On R&D activities during the EU-FamPro project

The EU-FamPro project not only develops and delivers training for professionals (the target groups of the project are judges, lawyers, notaries and mediators), but also develops a new training model and the tools that underpin it. The activities carried out by EU-FamPro can be classified as experimental development, as the knowledge generated by research and practical experience is the basis for systematic work that leads to the acquisition of complementary knowledge that contributes directly to the development of new products or processes or their improvement.

The training is delivered through the Moodle platform, but a long-term MOOC platform is also being developed, creating a new product. The project aims to develop a new instrument - a multi-faceted methodology for designing and delivering training in private international family law. At the outset of the project, it was identified that a new training methodology was needed, both in terms of content and form, which would take into account the latest developments in legal instruments and case law in European countries, and which would ensure that the training would be suitable for experienced legal professionals, would involve participants in the sharing of experience, and would allow participants from different countries to cooperate and transfer their experience to each other.

Thus, although the Project is a training project, its core consists in the development of innovative training material that would be a new tool useful for training on private international family law. The training instrument developed includes not only the contribution of the project participants to the field of research by providing training material based on comparative case law analysis, but also a model for the delivery and organisation of the training. We note that the training is carried out in phases in order to develop the most appropriate and original training format.

In addition to the training material developed, the following essential tools have been developed for this purpose:

• A structured training platform, MOODLE, that can serve as a model for future training.
• EU-FamPro Training Guidelines - methodological training material.
• EU-FamPro Story-telling Video Guidelines - a guide for interactive training sessions where videos of the trainees are created.
• Training needs assesment report - a tool to analyse training needs.
• Literature and case law review report – a tool to systematise existing information.
• EU-FamPro Training Guidelines for MOOCs - methodological training material for the MOOC model.
• An open access MOOC training platform, among others, which is becoming an innovative model for training in private international law.

Together, these instruments offer a new instrument for the training of private international family law, the aim of which is to provide a qualitatively new product that will make it possible to carry out further training in all European countries on the basis of the model developed, as well as to improve the training already carried out.