Your LGBT family companion -- How we see our relationships -- How this book can help -- Using the forms in this book -- Defining family : basics of marriage, domestic partnership, and more defining family -- Domestic partnership -- Employee benefits for domestic partners -- Marriage and marriage-like relationships in the United States : an overview -- Can you get married? -- Creating marriage-like relationships by contract -- Ending a relationship -- Keeping up with legal changes -- Marriage and marriage-equivalent relationships -- Same-sex marriage in the five marriage equality states -- Marriage equivalent : California's domestic partnership law -- Other marriage equivalent laws -- Pre- and postpartnership agreements -- Marriage lite : relationship recognition in Hawaii, Colorado, and Maine -- Is marriage (or its equivalent) right for you? -- Money, insurance, name changes, and immigration issues -- Cash and credit -- Insurance -- Name changes -- Foreign lovers : visits and immigration -- Renting a home together -- If a landlord discriminates against you -- Sharing a rental -- Sharing one partner's rented home -- Renter's insurance -- Moving on -- Public benefits and living together -- I'm mom, she's mommy (or I'm daddy, he's papa) -- Legal parents and the second parent trap -- Having a child -- Adopting a child -- Foster parenting -- Becoming a guardian -- Agreements with teenagers -- Medical and financial matters : delegating authority -- Health care decisions -- Physician-assisted suicide -- Burial and body disposition -- Estate planning note -- Durable power of attorney for finances -- Looking ahead : estate planning -- Death and living together contracts -- Wills -- Estate planning beyond a will -- Living together contracts for lesbian and gay couples -- Living together contracts are legal -- When you need a living together contract -- What to include in a living together contract -- Sample living together contracts -- Modifying your agreement -- Beware the tax man! -- Buying a home together (and other real estate ventures) -- Finding a house -- How much house can you afford?-- Proceeding with your purchase -- Taking title to your new home -- Contracts for home purchase and ownership -- Going separate ways : issues at the end of a relationship -- Breaking up : an overview -- The separation process : what to do -- Getting to yes : how to work toward resolution -- Ideas for solving some common problems -- Breaking up when there's no legal relationship -- Dissolving a gay marriage -- Dissolving a straight marriage -- Domestic violence in same-sex relationships -- Help beyond the book -- Hiring a lawyer -- Doing your own legal research -- Legal organizations.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.