Feb 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Stephen J. Hyland, Law Offices of Stephen J. Hyland, Westmont, N.J.

By: By Stephen J. Hyland, Law Offices of Stephen J. Hyland, Westmont, N.J.

Estate planning for New Jersey's more than 22,000¹ same-sex couples has undergone several seismic changes for the better since 2004. First, the state legislature passed the Domestic Partnership Act of 2004, providing them with limited recognition. In early 2006, registered domestic partners were granted intestacy and other inheritance rights, placing such couples on a nearly equal basis to married couples. Then, the Garden State made national headlines when on Oct. 25, 2006, the state Supreme Court held in Lewis v. Harris² that it was an equal protection violation to deny “committed same-sex couples … all of the rights, benefits and obligations of married couples” under the laws of New Jersey. Although the court stopped short of finding a fundamental right to same-sex marriage, it gave the legislature 180 days to conform New Jersey laws regarding marriage to its holding. In response, the legislature quickly passed a civil unions bill that purports to provide treatment equal to that of similarly situated married couples.

Despite these welcome developments, the lack of recognition of civil unions by the federal government and most states, including those bordering New Jersey, continues to make estate planning for same-sex couples significantly more difficult — and expensive — than for comparable opposite-gender married couples, at least for the near future.

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