A guide to legal issues concerning lesbian and gay couples that covers the basics of marriage, domestic partnership, money, insurance, name changes, immigration, parenting, medical matters, finances, renting or buying a home, and ending a relationship, and includes a CD-ROM with forms for legal agreements.
Your LGBT family companion -- How we see our relationships -- How this book can help -- Using the forms in this book -- Defining family : basics of marriage, domestic partnership, and more defining family -- Domestic partnership -- Employee benefits for domestic partners -- Marriage and marriage-like relationships in the United States : an overview -- Can you get married? -- Creating marriage-like relationships by contract -- Ending a relationship -- Keeping up with legal changes -- Marriage and marriage-like relationships -- Same-sex marriage in Massachusetts -- California's domestic partnership law -- The Vermont civil union law --The New Jersey civil union law -- The Connecticut civil union law -- Relationship recognition in Hawaii : reciprocal beneficiaries -- Domestic partnership in Maine -- Hot off the presses : relationships in New Hampshire, Oregon, and Washington -- Is marriage (or its equivalent) right for you? --
Money, insurance, name changes, and immigration issues cash and credit -- Insurance -- Name changes -- Foreign lovers : visits and immigration -- Renting a home together -- If a landlord discriminates against you -- Sharing a rental -- Sharing one partner's rented home -- Renter's insurance -- Moving on -- Public benefits and living together -- I'm mom, she's mommy (or I'm daddy, he's papa) -- Legal parents and the second parent trap -- Having a child -- Adopting a child -- Foster parenting -- Becoming a guardian -- Agreements with teenagers -- Medical and financial matters : delegating authority -- Health care decisions -- Physician-assisted suicide -- Burial and body disposition -- Estate planning note -- Durable power of attorney for finances -- Looking ahead : estate planning -- Death and living together contracts -- Wills -- Estate planning beyond a will -- Living together contracts for lesbian and gay couples -- Living together contracts are legal --
When you need a living together contract -- What to include in a living together contract -- Sample living together contracts -- Modifying your agreement -- Beware the tax man! -- Buying a home together (and other real estate ventures) -- Finding a house -- How much house can you afford?-- Proceeding with your purchase -- Taking title to your new home -- Contracts for home purchase and ownership -- Going separate ways : issues at the end of a relationship -- Breaking up : an overview -- The separation process : what to do -- Getting to yes : how to work toward resolution -- Ideas for solving some common problems -- Breaking up when there's no legal relationship -- Dissolving a gay marriage -- Dissolving a straight marriage -- Domestic violence in same-sex relationships -- Help beyond the book -- Hiring a lawyer -- Doing your own legal research -- Legal organizations.