Different sex couples - what rights do they have?

[yvr girl]

Are they treated as equal to married couples?

[sui generis]

1. different sex couples can get married

same sex couples can't get married.

[yvr girl]

4. Granted

but what if they don't get married. What are their rights?

[sui generis]

9. it depends on the state

I think in California, and definitely in Texas that if you share living space and utilities for more than six months you are considered a "common law" marriage (unless you're both the same sex).

That means that if you are financially interdependent, you can technically sue for shared property under "palimony" clauses if things don't go well in the relationship. I don't know if you can sue for income. Basically, if you buy a house here, and your boyfriend makes half the house payments he is entitled to half the house even though you're not married and he's not on the mortgage. The judge may accept a petition for sale of the asset to settle the claim.

You can't pay taxes together, and a creditor can't nail you with your boyfriend's debt - maybe a good thing! Also, you generally don't get "visitation" rights to children - it's mostly property related.

[Ms. Toad]

15. You are correct that it depends on the state

Ohio, in the early 90's abolished common law marriage. (It is really a misnomer, because common law marriages are recognized by statute.) Before the change in state law (and for couples who established their marriages before the statute was changed) the status in Ohio was based on living together (for any period of time), being eligible to be married, and hold yourselves to each other and to the community as married (sorry, it's been a long time since I looked at the statute so that may not be an exact recitation).

If a state recognizes common law marriages, once a couple obtains that status they are legally married for all purposes. Not too many people really pay much attention, so it comes up most often when one individual wants to prevent the other from marrying someone else (and claims it would be polygamous), one individual wishes to leave the other and files for divorce, or when one member of the couple dies without a will and the other wishes to inherit as the legal spouse.

(This is different from palimony, which is cohabitation without meeting the legal requirements for a common law marriage - a status which is not consistently recognized and has very few rights associated with it.)

If there is no common law marriage, in most states (at least with respect to state benefits) unmarried heterosexual couples have no more rights than gay couples. In Ohio, unless a miracle happens and voters reject Issue One, those few rights for both straight and gay unmarried couples are about to be cut dramatically.

[foreigncorrespondent]

16. Well...

...I know of one particular right. If a straight person falls "in love" with someone from another country, they have the right to sponsor that person for immigration. Doesn't matter if said American met that person through a newspaper ad, and hasn't actually met the person for real. My American partner however, doesn't have that same right to sponsor me, and we have been together almost five years.

[MazeRat7]

2. Generally not....

I do know that I can get health insurance for my girlfriend (a domestic partner) though my work. That is their choice because they are trying to be a good "corporate citizen". However, if I were to get hit by a bus and had no "living will' and she was not declaired on my life insurance policy, she would be out in the cold and the state would lay claim to all my assets. Likewise, if she were to up and leave me (which could happen *grin) , she would have no title to said assets unless she chould prove a "common law marrige".

Or at least that is what I have been told.

MZr7

[yvr girl]

6. Really.

So couples don't enjoy common law status. That's just wrong. Why don't people complain. It would also help in the fight for gay rights.

Can you file joint tax returns?

[MazeRat7]

11. See my edited message....

Yes there is the "common law", but it is pretty difficult to prove - as I understand it.
I do not know what the criteria is for that and have never worried to much about it since I have made sure she is the beneficiary of my estate through other legal channels.
And no, we have to file taxes as single.

MZr7

[yvr girl]

12. We have common law status, as opposed to common law here

You can claim it if you've lived together for (1 year in most jurisdictions) or have a child together.

It's easy to take care of property right, because you can spell that out in a will. Other benefits, especially government benefits need to be granted.

[MazeRat7]

14. Good Point...

I dont know about pensions or other government benefits like you mentioned since that is far removed my my reality. My assets are more property oriented (stocks, bonds, real estate, savings, etc). Her only problem in claiming a 'common law marriage" is proving it to the state. Everything they would generally consider (utility bills, credit cards, etc) are in my name (excluding various subscriptions to magazines, etc) . So from the states perspective (Texas in this case) she would have a hard time making/proving the case that we actually lived together for a very long time. Please keep in mind, I am not an attorney. So take anything I say as "experience" and "advice" rather than "fact". I suppose she could call witnesses to verify we were a couple for x amount of time, but I dont know what weight that really carries in the states eyes.

That is why I choose to protect her interest in me through the will process. It is easy and they must comply with my wishes. Of course all this assumes the case of my death vs her leaving. In the case of the latter, I believe if she could prove a "common law marrige" she would be entitled to 50% of the assest aquired while we were together and none that I brought to the relationship prior to that point.

All in all, the latter case would be really sticky but generally I think it would go down the same path and outcome as a classical divorce from a married partner.

MZr7

[Parche]

3. different sex

Is that like positions?

[Inland]

5. as opposed to indifferent sex couples

who don't like any positions, really.

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

7. This came up recently...

The right to cohabit is not any older than gay rights. Up through the fifties and sixties you could be arrested for "living in sin." There are probably still places with local laws to that effect. I don't think it ever went to the Supreme Court; it's just that practices changed. Possibly only enforcement, not laws, were relaxed. I'd like to know if anyone has any info on this.

[Not Me]

8. No they are not...A GAO report listed 1,049 laws that favour heteros

see http://www.marriageequality.org/1049.pdf

[Lefty48197]

10. It's time to end this madness

People are entitled to equal rights whether they're homosexual, heterosexual, or undecided. Homo- or hetero sexual couples who seek a civil union should have all the benefits that married couples have:

Pension and health insurance benefits for survivors/partners
The right to visit their loved on in the hospital
Probate rights
Tax benefits for couples

What have I missed?

[welshTerrier2]

13. they have few or no rights

this is an area that is filled with discrimination ... couples who are living together who prefer, for whatever reason, not to be married, should have the same legal opportunities as married couples and gay couples ...

THERE IS NO REASON TO MAKE THE LEGAL ARRANGEMENTS BETWEEN ANY COUPLE DIFFICULT OR IMPOSSIBLE TO IMPLEMENT !!!