Can a domestic partnership be changed over to married?

[FennecFox]

Hello,

My fiance and I live in New York State, Nassau County to be specific.

We are getting married in October 2019 in Carroll County, New Hampshire. However, for the time being, we're considering having a domestic partnership. The reason is because while he makes more money than I do, his company unfortunately does not offer decent benefits. However, my company offers excellent benefits. He has been experiencing some minor (but annoying) health problems and as a result we would like him to be able to see specialists via through my insurance, because as it is right now, he is having to pay out-of-pocket for essentially all health services.

My questions:

1. If we were to get a domestic partnership right now, would that interfere with us getting married? Can a domestic partnership be simply changed over to married status or is that prohibited?

2. Would it make more sense for us to get actually married right now, or would that create a problem with our officiant?

Sorry for what is probably a very simple question. I have no law background, and I haven't been successful in finding the answer to my question on Google.

Thank you for your help and have a good day!

 

[Zigner]

Hello,

My fiance and I live in New York State, Nassau County to be specific.

We are getting married in October 2019 in Carroll County, New Hampshire. However, for the time being, we're considering having a domestic partnership. The reason is because while he makes more money than I do, his company unfortunately does not offer decent benefits. However, my company offers excellent benefits. He has been experiencing some minor (but annoying) health problems and as a result we would like him to be able to see specialists via through my insurance, because as it is right now, he is having to pay out-of-pocket for essentially all health services.

My questions:

1. If we were to get a domestic partnership right now, would that interfere with us getting married? Can a domestic partnership be simply changed over to married status or is that prohibited?

2. Would it make more sense for us to get actually married right now, or would that create a problem with our officiant?

Sorry for what is probably a very simple question. I have no law background, and I haven't been successful in finding the answer to my question on Google.

Thank you for your help and have a good day!

To "convert" a domestic partnership to a marriage, you would simply get married, however, it might be more simple to just get married now. You can speak with the officiant you plan to use for your October wedding about this - it really shouldn't be a problem to hold that ceremony, however, you aren't actually getting "married" at that point, you're simply having a ceremony...much like when people renew their wedding vows later in life.

Best of luck for you and your husband-to-be!

 

[xylene]

Quite honestly in my experience in NY setting up domestic partnership for insurance is incredibly simple and your health insurer usually has forms and all you have to do is sign them in front of a notary. Much less hassle than dealing with the government, arranging witnesses and paying an officiant .

BUT but but. In since the end of 2017 there can be big down sides to Domestic partnerships TAX WISE in insuring a partner who is not your dependent... The benefits may be treated as taxable income and this bite is HUGE with 'good' insurance

Any officiant worth their salt should be able to conduct a wedding and make it look like the real deal even if you are already legally married. If you officiant is not up to that, or is too 'moral' or some garbage to not out you as 'already married' in front of your guests, get a different and competent officiant. So ask you officiant how that will be handled.

ONE MORE THING: Getting a marriage license and married in NY, in the place you reside makes getting copies much easier and cheaper. Get 5 copies so you can send out all the certificates to interested parties all at once without sending the original and without having to wait for them to come back.

 

[cbg]

You should also confirm that your employer will provide health benefits to domestic partners; not all do.

But if you do, know that you will pay a tax penalty for including a domestic partner on your benefits that does not apply to spouses. If you do go ahead and enroll him as a DP, make sure you notify your employer as soon as you get married so that they can remove the penalty.

 

[FennecFox]

You should also confirm that your employer will provide health benefits to domestic partners; not all do.

Good to know! I just spoke with my HR director and unfortunately the insurance company doesn't offer health benefits to domestic partners unless they lose coverage and/or never qualified for it. What's frustrating is that my fiance does have coverage, but it's extreme bare-bones. He needs tests and specialists, which aren't covered.

It looks like we may just need to get married early. I'm willing to do it for the practical reasons, but emotionally I'm not thrilled about it. I was really hoping to be married in October. I'll discuss it with my fiance and weigh the pros/cons.

 

[LdiJ]

Good to know! I just spoke with my HR director and unfortunately the insurance company doesn't offer health benefits to domestic partners unless they lose coverage and/or never qualified for it. What's frustrating is that my fiance does have coverage, but it's extreme bare-bones. He needs tests and specialists, which aren't covered.

It looks like we may just need to get married early. I'm willing to do it for the practical reasons, but emotionally I'm not thrilled about it. I was really hoping to be married in October. I'll discuss it with my fiance and weigh the pros/cons.

You can still have your real wedding/emotional wedding in October. I had to do that myself. The distance between the two weddings wasn't a great as yours would be, but I still had to do that.

 

[xylene]

It looks like we may just need to get married early. I'm willing to do it for the practical reasons, but emotionally I'm not thrilled about it. I was really hoping to be married in October. I'll discuss it with my fiance and weigh the pros/cons.

I hate to beak your bubble (not really, that's actually a thing I like) but marriage is eminently practical. The party is the emotion. Have your party earlier then... Destination wedding? Ha. What if husband is sick?

Magic doesn't exist in the real world.

Tax bills are real.
Insurance Co. bureaucracy is real.

Capitalism dragging you to an early grave. That's real.

 

[cbg]

Good to know! I just spoke with my HR director and unfortunately the insurance company doesn't offer health benefits to domestic partners unless they lose coverage ./QUOTE]

That's a start, at least - some places will not cover domestic partners, period. That's not just your employer's restriction btw - that's IRS regulation and applies across the board to all employers and all dependents. Your folks are pushing their luck with never-qualified and not just lost-coverage. If your plan is covered under Section 125 of the IRS code, and virtually all employer-sponsored plans are since 125 benefits both employee and employer, any changes have to be within 30 days of an IRS approved qualifying event or during an Open Enrollment period. That's not just for DP's - that's for spouses and children too. This is a time of year when Open Enrollment is going on for a lot of employers so I didn't mention that earlier. Luckily for you, though, marriage is an IRS approved qualifying event.