Hi Silvia!

I had to take family law as part of my counseling classes here and I think it is important to point out that there is NO common law marriage in Austria. There is this civil partnership for same sex couples but nothing along those lines for heterosexual couples the way other countries have. Living together for however many years does not give either partner any rights. They are expected to get married if they want any security.
Whatever was in one partner’s name- that partner gets to keep in case of a split. If one partner is dependent on the other in any way- they are in a difficult position then because the law does not protect them! If the other partner paid into the apartment bought jointly- tough luck! They have to sew to get the money back. That is all they could do.
Children born out of wedlock immediately belong to the mother and she has full custody. The father has to pay child support but he has to apply for any custody he wants. The mother also has no claims to alimony if she was at home and dependent on him and they split. I have heard of women stuck in relationships because of this. This can end up badly for men too. The woman can run off to another country with the child if she likes.

The rights for same sex couples are also no where near being what the rights of a married couple are. I am fuzzy on the details right now.

Anyone seeking to live with a partner unmarried whether heterosexual or same sex would be wise to seek legal counsel. Vienna has some great places to get this. I can recommend: http://www.frauenberatenfrauen.at
as I know of legal staff working there offering legal counsel.

This is a catholic country and studying the law, if only a little bit, shows how much! Almost all the laws I have learned so far highly favor married couples.
It is unfortunate how much progress still needs to be done to modernize the legal system. Especially in terms of same sex marriage.

I hope this can be helpful to someone!

Cheers,

Mariana