Fort Collins
Domestic Partnership Lawyer

Marriage vs. Domestic Partnership – Differences

A domestic partnership differs from a marriage, however, in the following ways:

• Recognition: The federal government will not recognize you and your partner as spouses. Because domestic partnerships are not established under federal guidelines, they are not uniformly recognized by the federal government or its agencies, including the IRS, Medicare, and Medicaid. Partners are not eligible for the rights, benefits, and protections provided by federal law on the basis of marital status, such as social security, taxes, immigration, and health insurance. Domestic partnerships are not recognized in all 50 states. If you register a domestic partnership in Colorado and move out of state, your partnership may not be recognized by other states, meaning you and your partner may not receive the same benefits or protections you were granted in Colorado.
• Family Ties: You and your partner are not considered family members. If you and your partner have a child together and later decide to terminate your domestic partnership, you must file an Allocation of Parental Rights and Responsibilities form to determine issues of child custody, visitation, and child support.
• Health Insurance: If your employer offers family benefits for health insurance, these benefits may not extend to domestic partners in the same way they do for married couples. If your employer’s insurance policy does cover domestic partners, you will likely be required to sign an affidavit swearing that you meet all the criteria for a domestic partnership. This includes sharing the same permanent residence, intending to do so indefinitely, and being jointly responsible for basic living expenses. While health insurance premiums for married spouses and dependents are considered benefits and cannot be taxed, any premiums paid by your employer for your domestic partner are considered taxable income and must be reported on your W-2. This means you are responsible for paying income tax and Social Security tax on a portion of the premiums that your employer contributes to their policy in every paycheck.
• Joint Assets: You and your partner do not have joint ownership of assets. In a marriage, any property, assets, or debts acquired during a marriage are considered marital property and must be divided or shared equally after a divorce. When a domestic partnership ends, you and your partner must initiate a partition case, which involves selling jointly owned property and dividing the proceeds between the two of you. Any debts accrued during the partnership will only be considered joint debts if they are in both your names. A Fort Collins domestic partnership lawyer can help you create a pre-partnership agreement – a document similar to a prenuptial agreement for soon-to-be-married spouses – to ensure that your debts are divided appropriately without requiring litigation. You and your partner cannot share each other’s retirement benefits after the partnership is terminated unless you are named as beneficiaries.
• Inheritance: You and your partner do not automatically inherit each other’s assets without significant tax penalties. You can create an estate plan to streamline the process of asset transfer after death, but you will be responsible for paying additional taxes that would not apply to a married couple.
• Immigration: A domestic partnership does not grant you or your partner the right to petition for a change in immigration status as a marriage would. If your partner is a foreign national on a temporary visa in the US, registering a domestic partnership signals intent to stay in the country, which violates visa stipulations.

Estate Planning for Domestic Partners

Because a domestic partnership does not offer the same benefits as a marriage, it is vital to make additional arrangements for important legal, financial, and medical matters. At Johnson Law Group, our Fort Collins domestic partnership lawyers can help you develop a comprehensive estate plan to protect your interests and ensure your wishes are faithfully carried out. A complete estate plan includes the following:

• Last Will and Testament – A will is a written document that dictates your intentions for the distribution of your assets upon your death. You can use a will to designate beneficiaries, dictate which assets they will receive, name an executor to administer your estate, and select a personal guardian to care for your minor children. If you die without a valid will in place, your property will be distributed under Colorado’s intestate succession laws. Unlike spouses, domestic partners are not eligible for automatic inheritance under intestate succession.
• Beneficiary Designations – Checking accounts, savings accounts, certificates of deposit, investments, and life insurance accounts have provisions in place for designating a beneficiary who will inherit the assets in these accounts upon your death. By choosing beneficiaries for these accounts, you ensure that these assets will automatically transfer to the designated individuals without requiring them to undergo probate proceedings.
• Durable Financial Power of Attorney – Establishing a durable financial power of attorney grants an individual (known as an agent) the authority to make financial and legal decisions on your behalf if you become incompetent, incapacitated, or otherwise unable to make these decisions yourself.
• Advance Directives – The two most common advance directives are a durable medical power of attorney and a living will. A durable medical power of attorney grants an individual – known as a healthcare proxy – the authority to make decisions about your medical care and treatment if you become incapacitated and unable to express your wishes. A living will provides instructions to your physicians regarding end-of-life medical care if you are in a vegetative state or cannot speak for yourself.
• Trusts – A trust is a type of fiduciary relationship in which you (the trustor) give another person (the trustee) the right to hold assets and property for the benefit of a beneficiary. Placing your assets in a trust provides legal protection ensures they are distributed according to your wishes, helps your beneficiaries access their inheritances without probate proceedings, and can avoid or reduce estate taxes.

Terminating Domestic Partnerships

One of the benefits of entering a domestic partnership is that terminating the arrangement is far quicker and easier than undergoing a divorce. A domestic partnership automatically ends if one of the partners dies or the partners no longer meet one or more requirements included in the affidavit for domestic partnership, such as:

• The partners are no longer in a close, committed relationship.
• The partners no longer share a common household.
• One partner enters a marriage or forms a civil union with another person.
• The partners have become related by blood or adoption.

To terminate a partnership for another reason, you must complete a Termination of Domestic Partnership Application, sign and date this form, and submit it to the same office you submitted your Domestic Partnership Application, along with the $25 processing fee. You and your partner must both sign this application to officially terminate the partnership, unless you cannot locate your partner or they refuse to cooperate. In this case, it is possible to terminate the partnership with only one signature, but you must provide evidence (certified mail receipt) showing that you have made a reasonable attempt to notify them of the termination.