Domestic Partnership Agreements

A domestic partnership agreement can be used by all unmarried couples, whether of the opposite or same sex. It is a written contract between you and your partner that is primarily used to address the sharing of income, expenses, and property. It supports your ownership rights and clarifies your intentions for the distribution of your property if you die or your relationship ends. Although it needn’t address concerns that are covered by other legal instruments (such as deeds of title, wills, living trusts, durable powers of attorney for health care and finances, parental rights documents, and living wills or Declarations of Desire), it can provide a valuable supporting document for them. You can also use a domestic partner agreement to identify responsibility for nonfinancial matters (e.g., who will handle household duties), although courts tend to provide only limited remedies for these so-called personal service agreements.

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Lack of legal same-sex marriage

As a gay or lesbian couple, legal marriage is currently not available to you in most states. While opposite sex couples may choose not to marry, you actually don’t have a choice. As a legally unmarried couple, you lack many of the protections and benefits the law extends to married couples. You must create your own safeguards, like any other unmarried couple. A domestic partner agreement supplemented with other legal documents, such as a will or living trust, durable powers of attorney for health care and finances, and parental rights agreements, may currently be the best approach to protect your rights.

Tip: Massachusetts currently authorizes same-sex marriages between its residents, and Vermont, Connecticut, and New Jersey allow gay and lesbian couples to “marry” in civil union ceremonies. Partners in these relationships gain all the benefits and protections of marriage that these states confer (e.g., inheritance, property ownership rights), but benefits and protections governed by federal law (e.g., Social Security) aren’t affected.