Determining A Legal Safety Net To Protect Families With Same Sex Partners

Wisconsin families cannot wait to learn what rights to marriage, adoption, and reproductive rights the Courts and our legislatures will choose to amend or revoke. For the state legislature to recognize same sex partners as legal couples and parents through marriage - Wisconsin has resisted redefining the make-up of a family in the past, yet there is a basic sense of fairness and pragmatism in this state, based upon the Midwestern pioneer experience, which may help to protect families with same sex partners.

It is this presumption inherent in marriage that can provide a legal safety net for gay and lesbian couples. A Partnership Agreement between a couple of the same sex can be extracted from the principles of contract law, just as pre-nuptial agreements have been. These agreements identify individual and/or joint property, with provisions for the death of spouses or partners or the break-up of a marriage or partnership.

The principles of probate law can be used to establish a safety net for same sex partners as well as their children. Medical Powers of Attorney, General Durable Powers of Attorney, and a Revocable Living Trust may be utilized to provide partners with standing to act on behalf of each other. If there are minor children of one or both partners, a guardianship designation in the Trust is utilized in case of the death of the legally recognized parent.

Children born to or adopted by one parent can be protected within the family by providing a specially drafted parenting agreement between the birth or adoptee parent and the other parent. Wisconsin has not yet passed an adoption statute that recognizes same sex partners as parents of equal standing. Therefore, a parenting agreement and powers of attorney can be useful legal tools to accomplish the recognition of joint parenting rights and responsibilities.

Same sex partners should review the needs of their family with an attorney who is sensitive to their special circumstances and knowledgeable of this innovative new approach to life and estate planning. Our Offices specialize in providing this service.