Domestic partnership in California

A California domestic partnership is a legal relationship available to all same-sex couples, and to those opposite-sex couples where at least one party is age 62 or older. It affords the couple "the same rights, protections, and benefits, and... the same responsibilities, obligations, and duties under law..." as married spouses.

Enacted in 1999, the domestic partnership registry was the first of its kind in the United States created by a legislature without court intervention. Initially, domestic partnerships enjoyed very few privileges—principally just hospital-visitation rights and the right to be claimed as a next of kin of the estate of a deceased partner. The legislature has since expanded the scope of California domestic partnerships to include all of the rights and responsibilities common to marriage. As such, California domestic partnerships are functionally equivalent to civil unions offered in several other states.

Filing an invalid California Declaration of Domestic Partnership is a serious offense and considered a misdemeanor.

Although the program enjoys broad support in California, it has been the source of some controversy. Groups opposed to the recognition of same-sex families have challenged the expansion of domestic partnerships in court. Conversely, advocates of same-sex marriage contend that anything less than full marriage rights extended to same-sex partners is analogous to the "separate but equal" racial laws of the Jim Crow era.

California has expanded the scope or modified some of the processes in domestic partnerships in every legislative session since the legislature first created the registry. Consult the California Secretary of State for the most current information.

As of 2012, California affords domestic partnerships the same rights and responsibilities as marriages under state law. Among these:

While domestic partners receive all of the benefits of marriage under California state law, federal law does not recognize domestic partnerships. In addition, some countries that recognize same-sex marriages performed in California as valid in their own country, (e.g., Israel ), do not recognize same-sex domestic partnerships contracted in California.

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