Domestic Partnership Benefits
Learn about the benefits of domestic partnerships -- and whether they may be available to you.
Despite the fact that it's estimated only 10% of American families are made up of a working husband, a stay-at-home wife, and children, our legal and social systems still provide benefits and protections based on that model. Having been left out of this structure, lesbian and gay activists in the early 1980s sought new definitions of family and recognition of their relationships -- and domestic partnerships were born.
Domestic partners are unmarried couples, of the same or opposite sex, who live together and seek economic and noneconomic benefits granted their married counterparts. In a few states, domestic partnership status is offered and regulated by the state and grants many of the rights and responsibilities of marriage -- generally limited to same-sex couples. In other places, domestic partnership is offered by smaller governmental entities or businesses and carries more limited benefits. In either case, benefits can include:
- health, dental, and vision insurance
- sick and bereavement leave
- accident and life insurance
- death benefits
- parental leave (for a child you coparent)
- housing rights and tuition reduction (at universities), and
- use of recreational facilities.
When a state, municipality, county, organization, private company, or university or college considers providing domestic partnership benefits, it must address several important issues: Who qualifies as a domestic partner -- should heterosexual couples be covered as well as gay and lesbian couples? How will an employer identify the employee's domestic partner -- by registration? Must the couple be together a minimum number of years? Must the couple live together? Must they share expenses? Must they be financially responsible for each other? How does a couple terminate their domestic partnership? (Note that even though most domestic partnership applications ask you to state that you are financially responsible for each other's needs, these applications are generally not considered binding contracts of support.)
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