Planning for Your Life Together – And Beyond

Now that you’ve decided to register your domestic partnership, you need to plan for your life together. If you and your partner decide to be just roommates you have no property or inheritance rights. But, as registered domestic partners, you have both. Proper financial and estate planning are important steps in understanding each others wishes about your property and respecting how each of you want your affairs handled should you die.

Financial Considerations.

Everything you earn during your registered domestic partnership is presumed to be community property. That means that each partner has a 1/2 interest in everything the other partner earns. It is important that you discuss how you are going to invest your community earnings. Will you invest in mutual funds, bonds, stocks? Who will you name as beneficiary of these accounts? Do you have enough insurance to take care of each other if one of you becomes disabled or dies? What about insurance for your children?

Family Considerations.

You also need to make decisions regarding your families, including children from prior relationships. As a domestic partner, you are treated as a spouse if your partner dies. This means that, absent proper planning, property which you or your partner want to go to children from a prior relationship will be diluted, leaving less for those children. Let’s look at an example. Bob and Adam form a domestic partnership. Each has a child from a previous relationship. If Adam dies without making any plans, his property will be divided between Bob and Adam’s child. If Adam has 2 children, his property will be divided three ways. Is this what Adam really intended? If both Bob and Adam are each financially independent, perhaps they would rather leave the bulk of their property to their respective children.

What about children that you have together? You need to provide for those children and decide who will act as guardian if you both die. How will you pay for college or deal with a child with special needs?

Estate Planning

A proper estate plan can address all of these issues and give you both peace of mind as you build a life together. At a minimum, you each need a will. A will is a document which sets forth how you want your property distributed after you die. Remember the children who didn’t get as much as you wanted them to? A will can avoid such a situation. A will also lets the court know who you want to act as guardian of your children. When you have a will, the court must make sure your debts are paid and your property distributed according to your written wishes.

You might consider a revocable living trust. A trust is like a box in which you put your property. The property inside is yours to do with as you please while either or both of you are living. When you both die, or become incompetent, the trust sets forth how your assets are to be managed and how to distribute them after you die. The best part of a trust is that it does not need a court to do or oversee anything. You can even keep your property in trust for your children so they don’t spend their inheritance during youthful indiscretions.

Other parts of a good estate plan are financial and health care powers of attorney. Although a registered domestic partnership gives you the same rights as a spouse, it does not automatically give you rights to act for one another with respect to financial or health matters.

Nevada’s Domestic Partnership Act is very exciting. But with it comes greater responsibility toward your partner and your family. Proper planning before and after you register your partnership can give you both peace of mind for a happy future.

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Nevada Domestic Partnership Act – Part II

What You Need to Know Before You Register

Family Matters

Before you take the plunge and register your domestic partnership, you should know what you are getting yourself into. Aside from the things your mother will warn you about, domestic partners possess just about every legal right and responsibility as married couples, for better or for worse!

Property Rights – Share and Share Alike

Nevada is a community property state. That means that one-half (1/2) of everything you earn while you are a registered domestic partnership will belong to your domestic partner. Living in a community property state also means that domestic partners are financially responsible for each others debts incurred during the partnership. For example, if you have a domestic partnership and one of you owns a business, the creditors for that business can seek repayment from both partners. Likewise, even if only one of you signed for a credit card after you became domestic partners, the other partner can be held responsible for the debt. Finally, in Nevada, spouses have certain legal obligations to financially care for the other. These legal obligations may be applied to domestic partners as well.

A Rose By Any Other Name

Unlike in other states, when you register your domestic partnership, a partner does not automatically get a name change. If you want to take your partner’s name, you will need to petition the court to approve a change.

And Baby Makes 3, 4, 5 . . .

The parent/child relationship in a domestic partnership is nearly the same as for married couples. The natural born child of one partner creates a presumption that both partners are parents. Of course, as in any other case, there may be issues with the other biological parent and you may have to go to court to terminate parental rights. However, the Nevada Domestic Partnership Act should now make it easier for same-sex couples to adopt. The process will be the same as for any other adoption, but hopefully the legal recognition of same-sex couples will pave a smoother way.

The End

As with all relationships, domestic partnerships will sometimes end. Domestic partners must go through dissolution proceedings just like married couples except in very limited circumstances. If your partnership has been registered for less than six years, you have no children which are part of the partnership, agree to the division of property and debt and waive your rights to support and judicial proceedings, then you can just file a form with the Secretary of State terminating your partnership.
Things To Consider Before You Register

Because domestic partnerships are a creature of state law, federal tax laws that benefit married couples are not available for domestic partners. You should consult an attorney before registering your domestic partnership to discuss income, gift and estate tax issues. Based on your individual circumstances, you and your partner may want to create a Domestic Partnership Agreement (“DPA”) where you can set out your rights and responsibilities for property and debts. In the event of dissolution or tax questions, the DPA could save you a lot of headache, not to mention money!

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Nevada’s Domestic Partnership Act:
What Does It Mean For You?

Effective October 1, 2009, Nevada will become one of only a handful of states that recognize a type of civil contract called a domestic partnership. Under this law, domestic partners, same-sex or otherwise, will now have the same rights, protections, benefits, responsibilities and obligations as spouses. But, what does this really mean for you? Over the next few weeks, I will be writing about the different parts of the Nevada Domestic Partnership Act. In this first installment, I’ll tell you about registering your domestic partnership and the general rights and obligations of domestic partners.

Creating the Domestic Partnership.
The best part of the new law is how easy it is to create such an arrangement. If you are unrelated, unmarried, share a common residence (even part-time), are both over the age of 18 and competent, all you have to do is file a registration form with the Secretary of State and pay a $50 registration fee. This can be done easily by going to the Nevada Secretary of State website. Once you register, what do you get? A certificate showing that you are registered domestic partners and most, but not all, of the benefits and obligations of a married couple.

What You Get.
A relationship nearly identical to a marriage! A domestic partner has the same rights, protections and benefits and is subject to the same responsibilities, obligations and duties that are granted to and imposed upon a spouse. In Nevada, this means that, once you register your domestic partnership, all property acquired is community property. This means that each partner is entitled to 1/2 of all property and earnings that the other acquires. On the flip side, domestic partners also become responsible for the debt incurred by the other during the domestic partnership.

You also get inheritance rights. If your domestic partner dies, you are treated as the surviving spouse and can inherit all or a portion of your partner’s assets. You also may be entitled to receive “spousal” support if you dissolve your partnership or during a probate proceeding.

Finally, because you will be legally related to your partner, you will be treated as a family member for purposes of hospital visitation.

What You Don’t Get.
You will not necessarily receive any employer provided or offered benefits. Nothing in the domestic partnership law requires employers to provide or offer health care or any other benefits to or for a domestic partner. This includes public as well as private employers.

A domestic partnership is not recognized by the federal government. This means that you cannot take advantage of tax laws that benefit married couples. You cannot file a joint income tax return and you cannot avoid or delay estate and gift taxes like you can if you are married. Neither is a domestic partnership recognized in other states. Nevada is only one of only about 11 states that recognize some form of domestic partnership agreement. So, if you move, you may be in the same position with respect to property and other obligations as if you didn’t have an agreement.

There are a lot of nuances to Nevada’s domestic partnership law. Will it be right for you?

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