DOMESTIC PARTNER REGISTRY – here are some reasons why you should register. By Christina Mae Olson, CFP®

A couple of months ago I conducted an unofficial survey of various LGBT couples who live n Wisconsin. I wanted to know if you had filed for a Declaration of Domestic Partnership and officially registered your partnerships. It turns out that not very many couples have registered. Here are some of the more colorful comments you gave me:

Most couples told me that they didn’t need the DP declaration to affirm their relationship or for the law to tell them they were in a lasting or legal or loving union. Some couples did not want to go to the trouble or pay the $70 cash required to register. The fact is that while you may have a lasting and loving union – you do NOT have a legal one. Registering as domestic partners will put a worthwhile legal shell over your relationship. As I’ve said many times, we are legal strangers to each other – if you don’t register your partnership.

You’ve probably heard that there are over 1000 federal rights and benefits afforded to legally married (read: heterosexual) people – none of which gay and lesbian couples (even the legally married ones) are able to access. Here is a link to a description of the full impact of this inequality. This is a 75 page document but is well worth at least skimming: http://www.gao.gov/archive/1997/og97016.pdf

The Wisconsin Domestic Partner registry provides a full 43 “rights and benefits” in 27 areas. Here’s the state link (this one is only 30 pages long) to the legal provisions: http://www.legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/2009-11Budget/Budget%20Papers/391.pdf

What follows is a discussion about why I believe partners should register. I outline the points that I feel are most important. If you take away anything from this summary – take this: PARTNERS WILL NOT GET THESE BENEFITS IF THEY DO NOT REGISTER. MANY OF THESE RIGHTS AND PRIVELEGES CANNOT BE GAINED FROM HAVING A WILL OR POWERS OF ATTORNEY. YOU ARE DENYING YOURSELVES SOME VERY KEY PROTECTIONS AND RIGHTS IF YOU CHOOSE NOT TO REGISTER.

Most of the 27 areas in the state law merely add the words “domestic partner” to provisions for spouses or family members. In legal situations, for example, a domestic partner can keep their partner (or former partner) from testifying against her/him – like a legal spouse. If you are not registered then the law can compel you to testify against your partner – or s/he against you. Domestic partners will be included, like legal spouses, under the victim notification provisions by the Department of Corrections. Domestic partners can file a wrongful death claim – like a legal spouse. You have no claim to compensation or monetary damages (think 9-11) if your partner is killed, unless you register your partnership. Domestic partners are eligible for crime victim compensation – like a legal spouse, but only if you register. Domestic partners must be paid their registered partner’s unpaid wages, if the partner dies being owed wages from their employer.

There are some important legal “rights to consent” that domestic partners gain in this law. A domestic partner can consent to admitting their partner to a hospital, nursing home, community care facility or hospice. You do not have this ability unless you register. A domestic partner can consent to donating body parts of their deceased partner for transplantation or research. A domestic partner can consent to an autopsy after the death of the partner.

Registered domestic partners have immediate access to each other’s medical records. Registered domestic partners have visitation rights in hospitals and care facilities. You have privacy rights for these visits if you are registered. YOU MAY BE TURNED AWAY FROM VISITING YOUR ILL OR DYING PARTNER IF YOU ARE NOT REGISTERED. Registered domestic partners are eligible for the state AIDS/HIV health insurance premium subsidy program. You get this benefit if your partner can’t work due to HIV related issues. If qualified (50+ employees), your employer must grant you family and medical leave – protecting your job – to take care of your sick (registered) domestic partner. This is 2 full weeks every year as long as you are registered.

If you are registered domestic partners, and your partnership dissolves, provisions in this law protect you “from each other.” And, if your partner was married before – your current domestic partnership trumps any financial/asset transfer protections s/he had in the prior marriage. Registering your partnership serves to protect you like re-marrying would. Provisions granted to your domestic partner’s former spouse or partner will not be honored if you register your partnership. You can’t be unintentionally excluded from your partner’s will.

From a financial planning and estate planning standpoint, the 43 rights and benefits are worth serious consideration. While there are no state income tax benefits – there are estate tax and inheritance privileges granted to DP’s who register. Here are some of the more positive provisions. These, alone, make registering very important for couples:

  1. Transfer of property at death - Domestic partners are treated as spouses in the absence of a will. If you are not registered then you have no right to your partner’s property. Get in line behind her parents, children, siblings, and extended blood relatives. If registered, the deceased partner’s taxable estate will be reduced by the value of the property transferred to the partner. This is good – less estate taxes! If not registered, the transfer will be treated as a taxable gift to the surviving partner.
  2. Payment of an “allowance” from the estate of your partner. The surviving domestic partner may receive payments for “support” out of the estate of the deceased partner, if registered, until the estate is settled. This is good as it will also reduce the taxable estate of the partner. These payments are not available to couples who don’t register.
  3. Speedy settlement of small estates. Estates worth less than $50,000 (minus debts, support payments, charitable contributions, etc.) can go though probate quickly, if registered. If not, the process could take up to two long years.
  4. DOMESTIC PARTNERS ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR DECEASED PARTNER’S DEBTS! If you are registered, you are even entitled to claim up to $10,000 from his/her estate PRIOR to his/her debts being paid! You will be paid before the creditors are paid, if registered!
  5. DOMESTIC PARTNERS ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR LIVING PARTNER’S DEBTS (unless you took on the debt/title jointly).
  6. Right to purchase your partner’s home. You have first dibs to your partner’s home (if it wasn’t also titled in your name) when s/he dies, if you are registered. If not, get in line behind the parents, children, siblings, and distant blood relatives. Of course, if you title your house together – as Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship (JTWROS) – then you won’t even have to purchase her interest in the house. This transfer will be a taxable event if you are not registered.

There’s more. I’ve just listed the provisions that seem most important. You should really read the bill and/or consult with an attorney to get full clarification on the benefits of registering your partnership. While it’s very true that the DP registry does not grant full marriage equality – it does provide registered couples with some extremely important protections! It is worth it to register – get your birth certificates, $70 and go down and just do it!

Chris Olson is a licensed financial planner with a fee-only practice. You may contact her at CMOney@centurytel.net or 608-525-9818.

arrow imageIf you have comments on this article, please send them to Chris at the email address above, NOT to the LGBT Newsletter.