Domestic Partnership Registration in California

Division 2.5 of the California Family Code deals with domestic partner registration. Part 1 deals with definitions. 

Section 297 provides that domestic partners are two adults who have chosen to share one another’s lives in an intimate and committed relationship of mutual caring. A domestic partnership must be established in California when both persons file a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Secretary of State pursuant to this division, and, at the time of filing, all four of the specified requirements are met.

Section 297.1 specifies that a person under 18 years of age who, together with the other proposed domestic partner, otherwise meets the requirements for a domestic partnership other than the requirement of being at least 18 years of age, may establish a domestic partnership upon obtaining a court order granting permission to the underage person or persons to establish a domestic partnership.

There are specified requirements to be met in this regard. In determining whether to issue a court order granting permission to establish a domestic partnership, the court is required to do four specified actions. Also, upon issuance of the order granting permission to establish a domestic partnership, the minor must be provided with four specified items of information.

Section 297.5 requires registered domestic partners to have the same rights, protections, and benefits, and be subject to the same responsibilities, obligations, and duties under law, whether they derive from statutes, administrative regulations, court rules, government policies, common law, or any other provisions or sources of law, as are granted to and imposed upon spouses.

A surviving registered domestic partner, following the death of the other partner, has the same rights, protections, and benefits, and is subject to the same responsibilities, obligations, and duties under law, whether they derive from statutes, administrative regulations, court rules, government policies, common law, or any other provisions or sources of law, as are granted to and imposed upon a widow or a widower.

The rights and obligations of registered domestic partners with respect to a child of either of them is the same as those of spouses. The rights and obligations of former or surviving registered domestic partners with respect to a child of either of them is the same as those of former or surviving spouses.

Public agencies are prohibited from discriminating against any person or couple on the ground that the person is a registered domestic partner, rather than a spouse or that the couple are registered domestic partners rather than spouses. Also, gender-specific terms referring to spouses shall be construed to include domestic partners.

Part 2 of Division 2.5 deals with registration of domestic partnerships. Section 298 requires the Secretary of State to prepare forms entitled “Declaration of Domestic Partnership” and “Notice of Termination of Domestic Partnership” to meet the requirements of this division. These forms require the signature and seal of an acknowledgment by a notary public to be binding and valid. Also, the instructions on the “Declaration of Domestic Partnership” form must contain two specified explanations.

The Secretary of State is required, by regulation, to establish fees for the actual costs of processing each of these forms and charge these fees to persons filing the forms. The Declaration of Domestic Partnership requires each person who wants to become a domestic partner to do at least give specified actions.

Section 298.5 specifies that two persons desiring to become domestic partners may complete and file a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State is required to register the Declaration of Domestic Partnership in a registry for those partnerships.

Section 298.6 provides that parties to a registered domestic partnership do not have to have the same name or to change their name. There are detailed provisions related to the names of registered domestic partners. A legal name change may be required in some instances.

Section 298.7 requires the Secretary of State to establish a process by which two persons, who have been living together as domestic partners and who meet specified requirements, that allows domestic partners to enter into a confidential domestic partnership. This process has to meet at least two specified provisions.

Section 298.8 required the Secretary of State to create a documents with annual updates no later than March 1 of each year, disaggregated by county, containing only the specified information concerning domestic partnerships that were registered during the preceding calendar year and in which one or both of the parties were minors at the time the domestic partnership was established.