Legal Question in Family Law in California

registered domestic partnership

I�ve been divorced from my first wife for 20 years. About a year ago, when I turned 62 my girlfriend of ten years and I entered into a registered Domestic Partnership with the state of CA so she could get on my employer�s health insurance. I was informed later that I am now subject to the same community property laws as married people. Is half of everything I�ve acquired since we�ve registered now hers? Am I now liable for half of any debts she acquires? Could I be liable to pay her health insurance and spousal support if I terminate the Domestic Partnership? My girlfriend has been a housewife/homemaker for the last 35 years. She owns income property from her first divorce that I believe she put in a trust for her children that she controls before we entered into the domestic partnership. I�ve never had a last will and testament and was preparing to make one so I could leave my entire estate to my adult children from my first marriage. How does the domestic partnership complicate creating a will and living trust in which I list my adult children as beneficiaries? How do I get my freedom and my life back to the way it was before the domestic partnership? Please help?


Asked on 7/13/09, 9:14 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Lyle Johnson Bedi and Johnson Attorneys at Law

Re: registered domestic partnership

You need to consult with an attorney. The community property would apply only to property acquired after the domestic partnership was registered. Community property used to pay for your house could be subject to a request for reimbursement. You may also be able to execute the equivalent of a post nuptial agreement where by each of you waives the community property interest in the wages earnings and property of the other.

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Answered on 7/16/09, 12:43 pm


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