How Preregistration Agreements Can Help Domestic Partners

While opposite-sex, married couples enjoy many protections under state and federal law, unmarried couples of the same and opposite sex are unable to access such benefits. Fortunately, domestic partners have one powerful legal option that can help protect the assets each partner brings to the relationship: preregistration agreements.

What Is a Preregistration Agreement?

A preregistration agreement is similar to a prenuptial agreement used by opposite-sex, married couples. Preregistration agreements are legal documents that outline what happens to the couple's property and finances when the relationship ends or when one partner dies. Preregistration agreements help support other important legal documents like powers of attorney, deeds, wills and living trusts.

Preregistration agreements can include protocol for alimony distributions, what happens to retirement accounts when the couple splits and even compensation for the stay-at-home parent. In addition to these considerations, preregistration agreements can also outline how income and expenses will be shared during the relationship.

This last stipulation may help protect the rights to income and property of each partner if there is a large discrepancy in income between partners. While discussing protections for one's income can be difficult, it is vitally important to ensure one's income is divided fairly.

Why Are Preregistration Agreements Important?

In addition to protecting individual income and property, preregistration agreements provide other important benefits to domestic partners. Married couples enjoy the protections and benefits of the law and state court systems. Spouses have rights to hospital visitation, are eligible for federal benefits like the Social Security death benefit and access to the court system to divide their assets in the event of a divorce. Married couples can also rest assured that their union is recognized across state lines.

Unmarried couples--both same sex and opposite sex--do not enjoy any of these protections or benefits. This is why legal documents like preregistration agreements are so important. They can stipulate what the couple would like to happen in the event that their relationship dissolves or the death of a partner so that neither partner is left high and dry. They also can provide consistency in the legal condition of the relationship across state lines. For example, a gay, married couple in Massachusetts could draft a preregistration agreement that grants the partners similar rights and responsibilities as their marriage does in the event that they move to a state that does not recognize their marriage, like Arizona.

If you and your loved one are interested in drafting a preregistration agreement, please contact an experienced family law attorney who can help you draft a comprehensive and legally airtight document.

Article provided by Stolar & Associates, A Professional Law Corporation
Visit us at www.stolar-law.com


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