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District of Columbia Domestic Partners
After a 10-year battle, Congress passed and President Bush signed a law July 8, 2002, that provides registered domestic partners visitation rights in hospitals and nursing homes. The law also extends a number of benefits to district government employees and their domestic partners, including health insurance coverage.
Benefits
All couples registered as domestic partners are entitled to the same rights as legal family members to visit their domestic partners in the hospital and make decisions concerning the treatment of a domestic partner's remains after the partner's death.
The new law also extends a number of benefits to District of Columbia government employees hired after Oct. 1, 1987. These include the ability to:
add their domestic partner and eligible dependents to their health care insurance policy;
use annual leave or unpaid leave for the birth or adoption of a dependent child;
use annual leave or unpaid leave to care for their domestic partner or their dependents; and
use annual leave or unpaid leave to arrange for or attend the funeral of domestic partner.
Eligibility
Applicants must be:
18 years old or older;
unmarried;
share a permanent residence;
competent to enter into a domestic partnership; and
not in another domestic partnership.
To register as domestic partners, both partners must go in person to the District of Columbia Department of Health, Vital Records Division, at 825 North Capitol St., N.E., Washington, DC 20002.
To establish proof of your shared residence, bring one of the following documents:
A current residential lease or rental agreement naming both applicants as occupants; a current residential mortgage that names both applicants as mortgagors; a deed for residential property stating that both applicants share title to the premises; a current residential property utility bill naming both partners; or
an affidavit executed within the previous six months in which both parties state, under penalty of perjury, that they share the same residence.
The fee is $45
Contact Lynn Andretta to discuss your legal options and find solutions for any Dispute or ADR related legal situations in Washington DC area or nationwide. |
