Just out., November 16, 2007, Page 21, Image 21

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What You Got, How You Got It
Because Jan. 1 is a federal holiday, county clerk offices will
he closed, hut the declaration of domestic partnership form
will most likely he available online that day. Couples can print
it out and sign it in front of a notary, then bring the form to
the county office when it opens Jan. 2.
Not all of the county offices will have a notary public on
hand, so couples should be prepared to find their own. The
Oregon state Web site offers a list of notary publics by county
(www.sos.state.or.us/corporation/oregon/notaries.htm).
Those registering in Multnomah County are in luck,
because Commissioner Jeff Cogen and his staff are taking the
notary training to be available for people who need to have
their signatures notarized once they arrive at the county
building.
Once the couple have their documents in order, they will
have to pay a filing fee of at least $25 (this may vary by coun­
ty) by check or cash. (Most counties do not accept credit or
debit cards.) They will then receive their certificate of regis­
tered domestic partnership. There will be a record of the filing
on the county registry of domestic partnerships (which will be
public) as well as with the state’s vital record department
(which will not).
Under this new law, same-sex couples will have the same
privileges, immunities, rights, benefits and responsibilities as
married couples in the state of Oregon.
Seems simple enough, right? Well, according to two area
lawyers, there are a few possible snags everyone should know
about.
First of all, the law says very clearly that to register for
a domestic partnership, both parties cannot already have
another domestic partnership that has not been dissolved.
This might not be an issue, except for the fact that informal
domestic partnerships have existed under Oregon law for
many years and have often been applied to unmarried couples
who share property or other responsibilities. Entering into one
of these sorts of domestic partnerships does not require filing
any paperwork or notarized signatures. According to Beth
Allen of Allen^ Law, it might be as simple as one partner
saying to the other, “I’m giving you an interest in my house”
or “Let’s get a dog together, honey.”
“So, rhe way it’s written, a domestic partnership is a ‘civil
contract entered into’ means that it could be argued that all
those times that we have in the past said those sorts of things
to our partners—our ex-partners now—that we’ve entered
into domestic partnerships in the past that we’ve not
dissolved,” Allen explained.
The county clerk is not going to demand people turn over
a list of their exes and how they have or have not dissolved past
relationships, but Allen says it could cause trouble it anyone ever
decides to challenge the couple’s registered domestic partnership.
This is something she hopes will be cleared up in the next
legislative session. She also says she and her partner, Christine
Cress, intend to register as domestic partners under the new law.
Adding another layer of complexity, several city and coun­
ty governments around the state have allowed couples to
register for what have been called domestic partnerships since
the 1980s. “They didn't have any legal effect; they were just
used as a way to demonstrate the relationship existed,” said
Mark Johnson, a gay lawyer with the Johnson Renshaw &
Lechman firm in Portland.
According to Johnson, couples mostly used these domestic
partnerships to prove their relationship to employers in order
to obtain benefits. “They were made sort of obsolete by the
new law, but they still exist," he said.
Another ongoing concern with any state’s domestic
partnership, civil union or same-sex marriage law is the issue
of portability. No one really knows what will happen to
Oregonians’ domestic partnerships when they move or travel
out of state". It is possible that states such as California and
Washington, which also have domestic partnership laws, will
allow couples to transfer their legal partnerships without
reregistering. However, in Washington, this would mean cou­
ples would have far fewer rights, as the domestic partnership
law in that state is not nearly as comprehensive as Oregon’s.
“This is a consequence of building a parallel system," said
Johnson. “The nice thing about marriage is that all 50 states
and the federal government recognize it in the same way.
Domestic partnership doesn't have that.”
Allen and Johnson both recommend that same-sex couples
file additional paperwork to be certain they are protected in
other states. Allen says this is particularly crucial when it comes
to second-parent adoptions as well as wills and advanced direc­
tives to ensure inheritance and hospital visitation rights.
Filing taxes will also become much more complex for
people with domestic partnerships, because while they can file
their Oregon rax return jointly, they’ll have to file their feder­
al taxes as single individuals.
Continued on Page 23
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