Effective October 1, 2009, in Nevada, a domestic partnership is a legally recognized relationship between two adults (of any gender) who live together and choose not to marry.  This is accomplished by filing a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Nevada Secretary of State and following all the statutory requirements, according to Nevada’s Domestic Partnership Act.  Then the registered domestic partners enjoy many of the same rights, obligations, and duties under law as imposed upon married spouses.  

Unfortunately, our federal government treats domestic partnerships differently and fails to recognize this commitment so federal benefits like Social Security, extending health benefits to partners, filing joint tax returns or spousal pensions do not apply.  This is extremely frustrating for many of our clients and is wrong, which is why estate planning for the LGBTQ community is so crucial.  

Frequently, upon the death of a partner, the bloodline family members of the deceased partner (many of whom haven’t seen or been involved in their lives for years) comes out of the woodwork and before you know it the surviving partner is kicked out of the house and all the assets go to the unintended bloodline beneficiaries.  This is why estate planning is so important.  Having a proper estate plan would guarantee that the partner receives 100% of all the assets instead of the estranged bloodline family member.  

Regardless of partners’ commitment to each other or them properly filing a Nevada Domestic Partnership, proper estate planning is necessary to guarantee that individuals rights, healthcare decisions, management of assets, and then distribution of assets is taken care of by their partner as opposed to the default provision which is bloodline family members.  

Our experienced estate planning attorneys for years has helped gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual individuals and families create custom estate plans to protect themselves, their spouse, their partner and loved ones.  We are here to help provide peace and protection by creating the following documents: 

• Durable Power of Attorney
• Medical Power of Attorney
• Financial Power of Attorney
• Last Wills and Testament
• Revocable Living Trust 
• Separate Property Trust

At David Bindrup Law Firm, we believe in protecting your rights, property, and assets and will help provide you with peace as we prepare your estate planning documents to guarantee your loved ones inherit – not bloodline family members that don’t support and love you except when it comes to inheriting your assets.