Domestic Partnerships

Because Arizona does not currently afford any state rights to same-sex partnerships, Owens & Perkins strongly encourages you to take precautions to protect yourself and your family. Whether you are thinking about entering into or ending a domestic partnership, we want to make sure that you are protected.

Legal steps such as Domestic Partnership Agreements, reciprocal Powers of Attorney, Beneficiary Deeds, and Estate Planning are the framework to protect you and your partner. You can also add things like medical directives and life insurance to help keep each other safe and secure even when you may not be there.

Another partnership and family planning concern involves adoption and child-birth. This area of the law is constantly changing.

Two-parent adoption is currently up in the air in Arizona. The Courts deal with it on a case-by-case basis. However, as with all things in the law, that could change at any time.

With regard to child-birth, as has always been the case, the parent that gives birth to the child is the biological parent. The domestic partner or other parent may, at some point, stand in loco parentis (in place of the biological parent) to the child. There is no consistent ruling in the Courts as to if, when, or how much time a non-biological domestic partner will be given with the child in the event of a breakup.

Finally, an important part of domestic partnership protection is keeping your documents up to date. If you move to another state, break up, adopt a child, or have some other change in your family status, it is critical that these changes be reflected in your domestic partnership documents.

Until the law automatically protects you and your family, the burden is on you to protect yourself.

If you are interested in contacting Owens & Perkins about protecting your family through domestic partnership, click here or call us at 480.994.8824.