Lesbian couple's marriage changes nothing about their ownership of previoiusly purchased property...and a thought about marital name changes

An otherwise unremarkable ruling from a New York trial court last month highlights a circumstance bound to impact many same-sex couples in the future. Jane Taylor and Diane Taylor (see my comment below about their names)bought a home as tenants in common in July 2008. A tenancy in common means each person owns her own share, the shares need not be equal, either owner can sell her share through a

Important elder law publication...with a caveat

I was so excited to see the National Center for Lesbian Rights' new publication, Planning with Purpose: Legal Basics for LGBT Elders, available on line here. Basically, I love any publication that explains the law to people in a clear and useful way.So why the caveat? Well, the section on relationship recognition begins with a section entitled "Federal Law Discriminates Against Same-Sex Couples

Marriage won't get parental rights for Cynthia Nixon's partner

Thanks to Dana Rudolph at Mombian to pointing out to me that Cynthia Nixon thinks her upcoming marriage to Christine Marinoni will give Christine a legal right to a relationship with the children Cynthia had with Danny Mozes. After Ellen reported that at a rally last Sunday in New York, Nixon announced her engagement to Marinoni and called for the right to marry in New York, noting that Marinoni

How about the whole story on taxes and same-sex married couples?

Gary Gates does amazing work. He is singlehandedly responsible for the wealth of knowledge we have about same-sex couples from census data. I turn to him for data for my own work. But his co-authored Huffington Post piece today doesn’t tell the whole story about same-sex couples and taxes.What he writes about is the unfairness of treating married same-sex couples as unmarried for purposes of

Why Lawyers Recommend Second-Parent Adoptions (even if you're married)

When I posted on Thomas Beatie (aka the pregnant man), I noted that his wife Nancy needs to adopt their child to be certain that her relationship with the child will be protected and recognized everywhere. (My crosspost on Bilerico generated many, often indignant, comments). All the LGBT legal groups advise same-sex couples to do second-parent adoptions, even when they are married, or in civil

We're not getting allies complaining this way about the tax laws

If news reports from a panel at last week's Gay and Lesbian Leadership Conference are correct, some of the leaders of our national organizations need some educating. According to an article in the Washington Blade, "[Human Rights Campaign President Joe] Solmonese and others on the panel agreed that amidst the national recession, a new focus should be placed on the unique economic issues that gay

WHAT'S IN THE NAME?

Another book about marriage came to my attention this weekend: "The Marriage Benefit: The Surprising Rewards of Staying Together, by psychologist Mark O'Connell. The title sounds close to that of "The Case for Marriage," Linda Waite and Maggie Gallagaher's book that I blast in my book for its "marriage promotion" propaganda and that Bella DePaulo skewers in her book, "Singled Out."So imagine my

SO IS MARRIAGE REALLY A CHOICE IN MASSACHUSETTS?

It's a given that the marriage equality movement is about obtaining the choice to marry. Well we've got that choice in Massachusetts, and then last week out comes a case that shows, again, that it's not really a choice at all. Not if we want to protect economic security and emotional peace of mind.The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision requiring the state to allow same-sex couples to

YOU CAN MARRY -- BUT SHOULD YOU?

Readers of this blog --and my book -- know that I don't think marriage should be the dividing line in law for relationships that count and those that don't. But now that same-sex couples from all over the country can marry in California as of June 17, many are thinking...should we or shouldn't we? There ARE legal consequences from marrying, and some should make couples think twice. (Caveat: Talk