Civil Unions & Domestic Partnership Statutes
March, 2008 Christine Nelson
Civil Unions
Vermont - Among the rights and responsibilities available to Vermont residents who enter into a civil union are:
- Responsibility for supporting each other “to the same degree and in the same manner as prescribed under law for married persons”;
- State tax benefits;
- Improved access to family health insurance policies and joint credit;
- The right to leave work to care for an ill partner;
- Co-parenting privileges and responsibilities for any child who becomes the child of one or both partners during the civil union;
- Automatic preference for the guardianship of, and medical decision making for, a partner should he or she become incapacitated;
- Inheritance rights (even without a will); and
- Equal access to state separation, divorce, child custody, child support and property division laws if the civil union ends.
http://www.sec.state.vt.us/otherprg/civilunions/civilunionlaw.html
New Hampshire In 2007 the Legislature passed a bill that created the legal status of civil unions. Parties to a civil union are entitled to all of the state-level spousal rights and responsibilities. Governor Lynch signed the bill into law, and it became effective January 1, 2008.
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/NHTOC/NHTOC-XLIII-457-A.htm Connecticut Same-sex couples in Connecticut are able to enter into civil unions thanks to a law that went into effect Oct. 1, 2005. Civil unions offer same-sex couples some of the benefits of marriage under state law, but none of the federal protections (such as Social Security survivor benefits), and there is no guarantee that the unions will be recognized by other states or the federal government.
The civil unions bill was approved by the Connecticut Legislature in April 2005 and signed by Gov. M. Jodi Rell. Before passing it, however, the state House of Representatives attached an amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Connecticut was the first state to establish civil unions voluntarily, without having been ordered to do so by a court.
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2005/act/Pa/2005PA-00010-R00SB-00963-PA.htm New Jersey (has both Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships) Same-sex couples in New Jersey will be able to enter into civil unions beginning in February 2007. Civil unions offer same-sex couples state-level spousal rights and responsibilities, but none of the federal protections (such as Social Security survivor benefits), and there is no guarantee that the unions will be recognized by other states or the federal government. The domestic partnership law that was passed in 2004 will be available only to opposite-sex couples over the age of 62.
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2006/Bills/PL06/103_.HTM
Domestic Partnerships California California has passed three pieces of legislation that provide rights and responsibilities to registered domestic partners (same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples over the age of 62 are eligible to register). Assembly Bill 26 passed in 1999 established the statewide domestic partner registry and conferred a handful of rights which included hospital visitation and the right of state and local employers the ability to offer health care coverage to the domestic partners of their employees. Assembly Bill 25 was passed in 2001 and extended the rights of domestic partners to include the right to make medical decisions, the right to inherit when partner dies without a will, the right to use state step-parent adoption procedures, the right to use sick leave to care for a domestic partner and the right to be appointed as administrator of estate. In 2003 Assembly Bill 205 was passed, basically extending all of the state-level rights and responsibilities of marriage to domestic partners. The rights and responsibilities associated with Assembly Bill 205 went into effect on Jan. 1, 2005.
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=fam&group=00001-01000&file=297-297.5 Oregon As of January 1, 2008, same-sex couples in Oregon will be able to enter into domestic partnerships that provide the same rights, benefits, and responsibilities as marriage under state law, thanks to the Oregon Family Fairness Act, Public Law Number 99, Oregon HB 2007 (2007). Domestic partnerships will offer same-sex couples the benefits of marriage under state law, but none of the federal protections (such as Social Security survivor benefits), and there is no guarantee that the partnerships will be recognized by other states or the federal government. (*Note: Law has not yet taken effect due to a federal court decision delaying implementation issued December, 2007.)
www.leg.state.or.us/07reg/measures/hb2000.dir/hb2007.en.html Washington Registered domestic partners are eligible for limited rights, including: Maine Registered domestic partners are eligible for limited rights, including: - Inheritance without a will
- Making funeral and burial arrangements
- Entitlement to be named a guardian or conservator if partner becomes incapacitated or to be named a representative to administer a deceased partner’s estate
- Entitlement to make organ and tissue donation
- Explicit protection in the state’s domestic violence laws
http://janus.state.me.us/legis/statutes/22/title22sec2710.html Hawaii In 1997 the Hawaii Legislature passed a law that allows same-sex couples to enter into a reciprocal beneficiary relationship. Couples secure the following benefits from a reciprocal beneficiary relationship: inheritance without a will, ability to sue for the wrongful death of their reciprocal beneficiary, hospital visitation and health care decisions, consent to postmortem exams, loan eligibility, property rights (including joint tenancy), tort liability and protection under Hawaii domestic violence laws.
The Hawaii Reciprocal Beneficiaries law was enacted July 8, 1997. The law provides limited state rights to same-sex couples, relatives and friends. The law "represents a commitment to provide substantially similar government rights to those couples who are barred by law from marriage." Among the benefits extended to non-married reciprocal beneficiaries under the law are: property rights, including joint tenancy; the right to visit your partner in a hospital and make health care decisions for her or him; ability to inherit property without a will; and protection under Hawaii's domestic violence laws. (Hawaii’s law establishes reciprocal beneficiaries, which is not limited to same-sex couples and can be used to contractually bind two parties, even those who may be already related, such as a brother and sister.)
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0572C/HRS_0572C-.htm District of Columbia In 1992 the District of Columbia City Council passed a law that allows unmarried couples to register as domestic partners. Since that time, several rights have been added, including hospital visitation, the right to make medical decisions, the right to control the remains of a deceased partner, the right to take sick leave to take care of a partner and the right to sue for the wrongful death of a partner.
(DC’s domestic partner registry was created in law in 1992, but Congress prohibited DC from expending any public money on the registry. This ban was lifted in 2002.) Citations: D.C. Code §1-307.68; §1-612.31, 32(b); §3-413; §16-1001; §5-113.31, 33; §21-2210; §32-501, 701, 704, 705(a), 705(b), 705(c), 705(d), 706; §42-1102, 3404.02(b)(c), 3651.05(c)(3); §47-858.03; §47-902; §50-1501.02(e)(4) and various other section of the D.C. Code.
For more information contact Christine Nelson in NCSL's Denver Office at 303.856.1651 or christine.nelson@ncsl.org NOTE: NCSL provides links to other Web sites from time to time for information purposes only. Providing these links does not necessarily indicate NCSL's support or endorsement of the site. |