Really!?

many or some states have enacted these with olders in mind so that they have certain (varies) responsibilities & rights in their partnership but aren't penalized as far as social security, some pensions, & other benefits that are sometimes reduced or eliminated when ppl marry.

I know there's one here (Washington), but I couldn't find a state x state comparison website.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2020 02:35AM by GNPE.

Utah does not recognize common law marriages. In states that do econize common law marriage, couples in such a marriage are legally required to file as a married filing jointly or married filing separately.

I'm not aware of any state laws that get around that requirement. If you could post a link, I'd appreciate it. I'd like to read up on that.

Edit to add: IRS does not treat domestic partnerships as married. I have no idea what happens if a couple execute a domestic partnership agreement, and also qualify as common-law married.

https://www.hrblock.com/tax-center/filing/personal-tax-planning/irs-domestic-partners/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2020 02:58AM by Brother Of Jerry.

Here you go, leotard-wearing, Barre-exercizing, wild-mathematicizing BoJ.

https://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/civil-unions-and-domestic-partnership-statutes.aspx

Gracias. I notice that (most of?) the states that have domestic partnership laws are also community property states. When I did a google search, most of the articles that came up about federal taxes and domestic partnerships had dealt with community property issues.

I used to do taxes with AARP. We could handle all sorts of weird tax issues. The only two things we were never allowed to handle were depreciation, and community property. Those required specialized training. There aren't very many community property states. That seems to be a holdover from Spanish common law. I have no clue why Wisconsin ended up a community property state.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2020 03:10AM by Brother Of Jerry.

I offer a different hypothesis: the states that have DP laws tend to be liberal ones.

The two principles are of course not mutually exclusive. It could be that there is a cluster of community property states and another cluster of blue states.

But I don't think the community property hypothesis explains WI, WA, OR, DC, HI, ME or NJ. I'm sure I have misidentified some of those, but there appear to be enough exceptions to render the CP explanation inadequate by itself.



ETA: the interwebz inform me that of that list WI and WA are community property states. The other five, however, are exceptions to your rule and seem to accord with mine. Going a step farther, WI and perhaps WA may have CP laws for the same reason that they have DP rules: liberalism or libertarianism.

So perhaps political orientation is as important as Spanish heritage in explaining who has DP laws and who does not.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2020 03:30AM by Lot's Wife.

Governments should stay out of personal relationships.

You can duplicate some of those rights through other means, i.e. power of attorney, an advance medical directive, etc. I would consult a Utah lawyer if this issue will personally affect you.

The community property law states are:

Arizona
California
Idaho
Louisiana
Nevada
New Mexico
Texas
Washington
Wisconsin

Alaska has an "opt in" provision: couples who desire their marriage be legally subject to community property law can choose this option if they wish.

Community property law applies to registered domestic partners in the following states:
California
Nevada
Washington

Community property law originates in Spanish law, and the theory behind it is that in a marriage, both marital partners have equal (though not identical) obligations and equal (though not identical) jobs. ("The hand stirring the soup pot in the kitchen is equal to the hand growing crops in the field.")

And no, I have never understood why Wisconsin in on the list either. Is there anyone here who knows, who can explain the history behind this (odd to me) legal fact?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2020 12:34PM by Tevai.

Ah, you beat me to it.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_property_in_the_United_States

From the article:
The states of the United States that recognize community property are primarily in the Western United States; it was inherited from Mexico's ganancial community system,[10] which itself was inherited from Spanish law (a Roman-derived civil law system) and ultimately from the Visigothic Code.[11] While under Spanish rule, Louisiana adopted the ganancial community system of acquests and gains, which replaced the traditional French community of movables and acquests in its civil law system.[12]


Puerto Rico and Guam are also community property territories, originating in Spanish law. I assume Washington state had some early settlements originating from Spain, judging by some of the local names (San Juan Islands, Strait of Juan de Fuca).

I'm not sure why Oregon got left out, nor why Idaho got included as a community property state. And Wisconsin is an outlier. Their closest link to Spain, as far as I know, is Taco Bell.

Four of the six states that border Utah (I'm including New Mexico, although it is only a single point of contact) are community property states. Pretty amazing since there are only 9 community property states in the whole country.