A domestic partner can be broadly defined as an unrelated and unmarried person who shares common living quarters with an employee and lives in a committed, intimate relationship that is not legally defined as marriage by the state in which the partners reside. The partnership consists of two people of either the same or opposite gender. Some state laws and employer-provided health plans also use the word “spousal equivalent” to describe a relationship that can provide the same emotional, physical and financial commitment that legally sanctioned marriage provides. Some states, such as California, require domestic partners to register their partnership for various protections under family law.
It is important for employers to develop their own definition of “domestic partner” when offering domestic partner benefits, ad to research any legal definitions in your state.
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