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Heads up same-sex couples: You’re about to be married

February 21st, 2014

Bad idea.

SEATTLE – Thousands of gay and lesbian domestic partners in Washington state who have not married or legally dissolved their unions by the end of June will have their relationships automatically converted to marriage – courtesy of the state.

It’s the final piece of the state’s same-sex marriage law – a provision about which many couples are apparently unaware and one sure to trigger some uncomfortable conversations.

Although domestic partnerships are essentially marriage by a different name, “people don’t think of them as the same thing,” said Jason Halloway, president of QLaw Foundation, the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender bar association.

Those being plunged into matrimony will no doubt include couples who simply hadn’t given it much thought.

Or there will be those who broke up in the years since they registered as domestic partners, some of them now married – illegally – to other people….

“We know there are scenarios we’ve not thought of,” said Pam Floyd, corporations director in the Secretary of State’s Office, which oversees domestic-partnership registrations.

“I’m sure we’ll come up against those and will handle them on a case-by-case basis. This is the first time we’ve had to confront something like this.”…

Many of the questions he and other lawyers are getting are related to taxes and finances, particularly in the wake of last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision that requires the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages.

“The difference between now and July 1 has to do with the mess of taxes,” he said. “You’re obligated, if you’re married, to file as a married couple.”…

http://www.gopusa.com/news/2014/02/19/heads-up-same-sex-couples-youre-about-to-be-married/?subscriber=1

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