San Jose Family Lawyer
Defining Domestic Partnerships
Domestic partnerships in California are legal relationships available to same-sex couples as well as to certain opposite-sex couples in which at least one party is over the age of 62. The domestic partnership affords the couple the majority of the same rights, protections, and benefits as married spouses. At the same time, individuals in domestic partnerships are subject to the same responsibilities, obligations, and duties under law as married couples as well.
The statute was enacted in 1999 and made California the first state to create a domestic partnership registry in the United States to create a domestic partnership program without court intervention. At the beginning, domestic partnerships enjoyed few privileges. The main benefit was hospital visitation rights. Since 1999, the California legislature has expanded the rights afforded to domestic partnerships to include many of the rights and responsibilities common to marriage. Because of this, it is now difficult to distinguish California domestic partnerships from the civil unions offered in a variety of other states.
As of 2007, some of the rights afforded domestic partnerships include:
- Making health care decisions for each other
- Hospital and jail visitation rights
- Access to family health insurance plans
- Spousal insurance policies
- Stepparent adoption procedures
- Presumption that both members of the partnership are the parents of a child born into the partnership
There are many more rights afforded to domestic partnerships. While there are a number of privileges, there are still differences between marriage and domestic partnership. Some of these include:
- Couples seeking a domestic partnership must share a residence
- No option for confidential marriage
Contact a San Jose Family Lawyer
For more information on domestic partnerships and other California family law issues, please contact the San Jose family lawyer of the Law Office of Daniel Jensen at 408-296-4100.
