Setting Up Your Domestic Partnership in California
Published On: March 16, 2013
Baby you were born this way! In California, we can protect the ones we love by setting up a Domestic Partnership (marriage is a-coming soon). The benefits and responsbilities of a domestic partnership are manyfold and are the subject of another post.
How fabulous would this have been if a domestic partnership could have been realized back in the late 1800s and early 1900s? Check out this video proving that loving relationships date back to way back when (to the tune of “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga)
For purposes of this post, though, here are the requirements for setting up your Domestic Partnership (per California Family Code Section 297):
Two Adults
What exactly are Domestic Partners? Two adults who have chosen to share each others’ lives in an intimate and committed relationship of mutual caring.
Declaration of Domestic Partnership
Both of you must file a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the California Secretary of State. Click here for the actual form! The following requirements MUST be met:
- Neither of you can be married to someone else or be a member of another domestic partnership that has not been terminated, dissolved, or adjudged a nullity
- The two of you cannot be related by blood in a way that would prevent you from being married to each other in California
- You are each at least 18 years of age (with certain exceptions — see Family Code Section 297.1)
- Either of the following:
a. You’re both members of the same sex OR
b. One or both of you are eligible for Social Security per the Social Security Act. Note: Persons of opposite sex may not constitute a domestic partnership unless one or both of the persons are over 62 years of age.
This Is Serious Stuff
Make no mistake. An intimate, loving relationship between a man and a man or a woman and a woman should carry with it the same exact rights as a loving relationship between a man and a woman. We’re almost there but, until then, we have Domestic Partnerships in California.
Feel free to call or e-mail me for a free consultation regarding your legal rights in this regard.