On August 8, 2018, the Supreme Court of Costa Rica declared the sections of the Family Code prohibiting same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional, and gave the Legislative Assembly 18 months to reform the law accordingly; otherwise the ban would be abolished automatically. The ruling was published in the judicial bulletin on November 26, 2018, meaning that same-sex marriage would become legal no later than May 26, 2020. This followed a ruling issued in January 2018 by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights stating that signatories of the American Convention on Human Rights are required to allow same-sex marriage.