The Legal Reality of GLBT Relationships

WHAT MAKES A FAMILY? Is it a combination of marriage and genetics or is it more simply a group of people who love and care for each other? Unfortunately, our society doesn't define family very well. However, while we as a society, identify family in a number of ways, the important question for the GLBT community is, 'What legally constitutes a family?' Minnesota enjoys a progressive legacy, but the state neither recognizes marriage for same-sex couples nor offers civil unions or domestic partnership benefits.

Although gay and lesbian persons form committed relationships, purchase property, and raise children together, when these couples end their relationships, the law is silent; in the eyes of the law, they are actually considered strangers to each other. For instance, the law is unimpressed that you gave up a career to be a stay-at-home parent while your partner spent years acquiring thousands of dollars in a 401(k) for a retirement intended for the two of you to share together. It takes empathy to recognize what two people have formed when creating an intimate relationship, purchasing property, and raising children together, but far from empathizing with an individual's plight, the law is rational and unbiased.

As a result, attorneys are taking advantage of the law's rationality and logic to construct legal protections for GLBT couples. The most common model is the Domestic Partnership Agreement (DPA). Similar to pre-nuptial agreements, DPAs are essentially contracts between the two individuals. They can create and clarify property rights and financial responsibilities between the two at any time during the relationship.

DPAs have an essential protective effect that, in the event of a separation, the parties are able to invoke the mutually agreed upon contract to resolve a dispute. Thus, the parties can determine what will happen should their partnership dissolve before the relationship actually ends.

Without an express agreement between the parties, a court must infer the intent of the parties and attempt to produce an equitable outcome for both parties. The logic of the law will likely only provide an equitable outcome for the titleholder of the property, while limiting the financial responsibility of one partner to another. The law rarely recognizes a financial responsibility between strangers. There are countless tragic stories of ended relationships that have left people in financial ruin. Some advance planning to preserve the strength of your relationship may help lessen the tension that arises from this type of difficult circumstances.