French couples pick the PACS civil partnership because it gives them some of what marriage offers, with far less to undo. A PACS brings some of the tax, legal and welfare benefits of marriage. Yet a couple can end one by sending an official letter to their local court. A French divorce, by contrast, usually took several years and several court appearances when The New York Times reported on the new law in 2000.

Marriage has not lost the contest. France recorded 184,000 PACS in 2016 and 225,000 marriages, according to figures The Independent cited.

A law meant for gay couples

The pacte civil de solidarité began as an attempt to give gay couples legal recognition. The National Assembly passed it by 315 votes to 249, against opposition from conservatives and from Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders. It passed in November 1999 as a union open to couples of any kind.

Experts had expected about 10,000 couples in the first year. Within four months the government had recorded almost 14,000. Advocates estimated that about 40% of them were heterosexual couples, though French law bars keeping statistics on who signs.

What couples say they want

Aline Fesquet, a 27-year-old teacher in Montpellier, told The New York Times the PACS let her mark a step in her relationship “without the family and all that baggage”. Her partner, Frank Embert, called it “a middle ground”.

The sociologist Jean-Claude Kaufmann describes the same thing. He sees the PACS as an in-between option, most popular with younger couples.

Many sign for a practical reason. Fesquet would gain the right to take leave from work and follow Embert abroad. Christèle Bouaye, an Air France flight attendant, wanted to pass her cheap flights to her partner.

What a PACS leaves out

Partners must support each other financially, and purchases and debts are joint unless they agree otherwise. The law says nothing about fidelity, children or inheritance, and inheritance rights remain weaker than in marriage. A pair need not be romantic at all, though siblings and a parent with an adult child cannot sign one together.

For many, it is a rehearsal. In 2008, 40% of dissolved PACS ended so the couple could marry.