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(San Francisco, California) Many couples are reportedly opting out of California's domestic partner registry for gay and lesbian couples because of uncertainty over taxes and financial obligations.
In January an expanded registry was implemented that offers most of the benefits of marriage to same-sex couples. But, what it does not offer has many couples concerned.
The law’s protections for families headed by same-sex couples include: community property, mutual responsibility for debt, parenting rights including obligations for custody and support, and the ability to claim a partner’s body after death.
For many in same-sex relationships those rights could be a double edged sword.
What happens to community property when a couple breaks up? How does mutual responsibility for debt or parenting rights affect a partner if they need to file for welfare?
And, what about tax benefits enjoyed by traditionally married couples? The partner law does not allow for joint filing for state taxes and certain other protections under state law. It also does not provide access to over 1,000 federal protections that heterosexual married couples enjoy.
A month before the new registry began 1,188 couples dissolved their domestic partnerships, according to figures obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle. More than 2,500 broke off their legal ties last year, compared with 733 the year before. Several hundred more have terminated their partnerships this year.
"The bulk of my clients are people who have to be registered because they have kids" and they wanted the protections of the law, which treats domestic partners with children like married parents, said Ora Prohovnick, an attorney who specializes in gay and lesbian family law told the Chronicle.
"But (the law) definitely creates grave concerns for a lot of people. ... It's not so much that we know it will do bad things, but because it could create a mess. We're the only people in the world who have community property but no marriage, and none of us has a clue about what it's going to mean."
The Chronicle also details the situation of Lisa Niebauer and Mindy Oppenheim.
Three years ago, Niebauer was treated for ovarian cancer. She is doing well and plans to graduate from law school in the spring the paper says. But because of the limits of her health insurance, Niebauer is worried that a decline in her health could leave her partner grieving -- and in debt
“The domestic partnership law marks a path toward equal and just treatment for LGBT couples, but the reality is tax inequality and other grey areas exist that would otherwise be eliminated if the LGBT community were afforded the same rights and benefits of marriage,” Equality California spokesperson Eddie Gutierrez told 365Gay.com.
“LGBT families must make a decision whether this domestic partnership law is right for them
“One thing is clear: the government cannot continue to be in the business of discriminating, which is why so many inequalities remain under state and federal law. Fair-minded Americans know that separate institutions, regardless of intent, is seldom if ever equal.”
A legal challenge to the constitutionality of the registry is also underway. Conservatives say that it violates Proposition 22. In court on Friday a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund told a judge that heterosexuals hold the "patent" on marriage.
The issue of marriage for same-sex couples is also working its way through the court system. And the legislature this session will consider a bill that would allow gay couples to wed.
©365Gay.com 2005
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