Domestic Partnership Planning Services
The Hart Law Group helps people plan for and establish agreements with regard to domestic relationships not otherwise governed by the laws of traditional marriage. Some of the Domestic Partnership Planning Services we offer include:
- Wills
- Trusts
- Powers of Attorney
- Living Wills
- Guardianships
- Domestic Partnership Agreements (Cohabitation Agreements)
- Hospital and Health Care Facility Visitation Authorization
- Authorization for Autopsys/Disposition of Remains and Burial Arrangements
- Will Contests & Trust Disputes
- Pet Trusts
- Retirement Beneficiary Designations
- Shared Parenting Agreements
- Termination of Domestic Partnerships
A domestic partnership is a legal or personal relationship between individuals who live together and share a common domestic life but are not joined in a traditional marriage. The terminology for such unions is still evolving in North Carolina. However, the North Carolina legal system provides no protection to domestic partners who fail to make their choices and intentions known through legal documents.
Some legislatures have voluntarily established domestic partnership relations by statute instead of being ordered to do so by a court. While that is not the case in North Carolina, some jurisdictions have instituted domestic partnerships as a way to recognize domestic partnerships, either different-sex or same-sex couples.
In some states, domestic partners who live together for an extended period of time but are not legally entitled to common-law marriage may be entitled to legal protection in the form of a domestic partnership. Some domestic partners may enter into domestic partnership agreements in order to agree contractually to issues involving property ownership, support obligations, and similar issues common to marriage.
One of the purposes of domestic partnership agreements is to recognize the contribution of one partner to the property of the other. In the common law, devices such as the constructive trust are available to protect spouses in legal or common-law marriages. In civil law jurisdictions, such trusts are generally not available, prompting courts to find alternative ways to protect the partner who contributes to the other's property.
At The Hart Law Group, we assist domestic partnership couples in dealing with various issues, including estate and disability planning, hospital visititation rights, health care, cohabitation agreements, and powers of attorney.