You have a right to freely choose whom you wish to marry. However, the Estonian law provides for certain restrictions regarding the choice of your spouse.
You have the right to marry a partner of your choice regardless of their origin or nationality. Legal provisions may restrict your choice, such as your close relatives or persons of the same sex as you.
Relatives
Marriage is prohibited between close blood relatives in a direct line (parents, grandparents, children, etc.), brothers and sisters, as well as between half-brothers and half-sisters.
Marriage cannot be concluded between an adoptive parent and an adoptee.
note In Estonia, you can marry certain more distant relatives such as a cousin, parent-in-law and child-in-law.
Same-sex partners
According to the Estonian Family Law Act marriage can be concluded between a man and a woman. The marriage between partners of the same sex is not yet recognized by law. The same sex partners may register their partnership.
The European Court of Human Rights has recognized that same-sex couples are just as capable of entering into stable, committed relationships as opposite-sex couples, and in certain situations may have a right to request legal recognition of their relationship. There is an emerging trend towards the legal recognition of same-sex couples in many European countries.
note Same sex marriage is recognized in 15 Member States of the European Union: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Gay marriage is legal also in Norway.
Other states also provide alternative forms of recognition of the relationship between same-sex couples, such as a civil partnership. Read more about a factual relationship and registered partnership between homosexual partners and other issues related to relationships that are not regulated in Estonian law.
Transsexuals
Trans people in Estonia have equal rights to marry their partner of opposite sex.