Legal News

Unregistered domestic partners can be putative spouses, appeals court rules

By Jason Siegel

Californians who incorrectly believe they are in a registered domestic partnership are entitled to the rights and responsibilities given to registered partners, an appellate court ruled yesterday. (In re the Domestic Partnership of Darrin Ellis and David James Arriaga)

The Fourth District Court of Appeals found that the the trial court erred in "concluding putative status was unavailable to domestic partners who had not registered with the California Secretary of State."

The appellate court ruled that an unregistered domestic partner can be a putative spouse, finding that the 2003 Domestic Partner Act extended the "equitable putative spouse doctrine" - which was first applied to married couples in 1943. The state Supreme Court ruled in 1943 that "a woman who lives with a man as his wife in the belief that a valid marriage exists, is entitled upon termination of their relationship to share in the property acquired by them during its existence."

Read the story by The Recorder here

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on May 07, 2008 (boomark / email).