DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP LAW
The area of law that deals with the rights of unmarried adults who choose to live together in the same manner as a married couple but who are not married.
Domestic partnership law is evolving rap-
idly, in part because more individuals are choos-
ing to identify themselves as domestic partners.
Although any two adults living together in a lov-
ing relationship may be called partners, the term
is most frequently used to describe same-sex
couples.
In the last decade of the twentieth century
and continuing into the twenty-first, a number
of city and county governments enacted domes-
tic partnership laws, including Seattle, New York
City, and Broward County, Florida. In 1999, Cal-
ifornia passed a state domestic partnership law
that provided a number of protections that for-
merly had been offered only to married couples.
These protections include the right to inherit
from a partner’s estate; the right to make medical
decisions for an incapacitated partner; the right
to use sick leave to care for a partner; the right to
obtain HEALTH INSURANCE through a partner;
and the right to adopt a partner’s child as a step-
parent. Domestic partners in California may
obtain these benefits by registering with the state.
Although domestic partnership law is
intended to provide benefits to partners, it still
represents uncharted territory and is far from
comprehensive or complete. Using the Califor-
nia law as an example, a domestic partner is
defined as a committed member of a same-sex
couple; heterosexual couples who cohabit may
not register as domestic partners. The rationale
is that heterosexual couples in a committed rela-
tionship have the option of marriage, an option
that is not open to same-sex couples. The only
exception for heterosexual couples is when one
partner is age 62 or older, because frequently
SENIOR CITIZENS who cohabit run the risk of
losing part of their SOCIAL SECURITY benefits if
they marry.
A more problematic issue for domestic part-
ners is the fact that their partnership is generally
not recognized outside of their jurisdiction.
Thus, their domestic partnership rights are not
binding if they should move to a community
that has no such laws of its own. In fact, domes-
tic partners who relocate to a new community
that does have protective laws are advised to re-
register in their new home in order to eliminate
any AMBIGUITY.
CROSS-REFERENCES
