Product Description

Now more than ever, it's important that you define and protect your relationship in the eyes of the law. If you don't, you run the risk of being shut out each other's lives -- and the lives of children you co-parent -- in times of medical, financial or personal crisis.

This practical, plain-English guide shows lesbian and gay couples how to:

*make practical decisions about living together
*obtain domestic partner benefits
*make medical decisions for each other when needed
*take care of your partner's finances when your partner can't
*leave property to each other
*understand the practical and legal aspects of having and raising children through adoption, donor insemination, surrogacy or foster parenting

A Legal Guide for Lesbian & Gay Couples, now in its 12th edition; is completely revised and updated to cover new domestic-partnership laws in California and New Jersey, same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and Canada, the latest on raising children and updated estate planning laws.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1070401 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 375 pages

Review
A guide that lovers will do well to embrace. Buy this book. -- Bay Area Reporter, San Francisco

Is a good primer for couples wanting basic legal advice on domestic partnerships, parenting, financial,estate planning and more. -- Curve

Solid legal information for gay couples was scarce -- until now. -- The Gay Paper, Baltimore

About the Author
Hayden Curry, a graduate of Yale University who received his law degree from the University of Virginia, trained as a poverty lawyer and spent two years working with migrant workers in rural Florida. He moved to California in 1969 and worked in a legal services office in East Oakland. After leaving legal services, he worked as a law partner with Denis Clifford for several years and helped write A Legal Guide for Lesbian and Gay Couples. A proud participant of the Bay Area’s gay community, Hayden died of AIDS in 1991.

Denis Clifford, a graduate of Columbia Law School, where he was an editor of The Law Review, is a lawyer who specializes in estate planning. He is the author of many Nolo titles including Quick and Legal Will Book, Nolo's Simple Will Book and Make Your Own Living Trust and co-author of Plan Your Estate and A Legal Guide for Lesbian and Gay Couples. He has been interviewed by such major media as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Money Magazine.

Frederick Hertz is a practicing attorney and the author of Legal Affairs: Essential Advice for Same-Sex Couples (Owl Books) and co-author of Nolo's The Living Together Kit and A Legal Guide for Lesbian and Gay Couples. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Customer Reviews

Be sure to get the current year
My partner and I were super excited to get this book, only to realize when we got it that last year's edition wouldn't help at all. With the laws changing, or threatening or promising to, all the time,state-by-state,if you don't get the current year your not getting what you need, so used copies of this book really aren't a deal.

Read this before you move in together!
This NOLO guide provides practical recommendations in an easy-to-read, accessible format. The chapters provide guidelines for different situations and give very specific examples of how to create contracts that ensure that couples and families will have the kind of relationships that *they* want to have. Not all of the contract ideas in the book are strictly legal in nature. Most of them are designed to help couples and families determine what they personally consider fair in their lives. One of my favorite contracts is between a "teenager and the adults he lives with." Many of the examples deal with economic inequality in relationships. For example, in the section on home ownership, there is a discussion on how equity can be shared if the partners do not have equal financial contributions. There are specific examples for how to fairly determine the worth each partner's contribution if they are working on a "fixer-upper." There are also contracts that spell out financial support if one partner is working while the other is in school and vice versa. There is also a brief but valuable discussion of what to do if one of the partners receives public assistance. The authors do not assume that any relationship agreement is more "fair" than any other agreement, which they make clear when discussing unequal incomes in relationship. These are issues that ultimately make or break relationships. The other reviewer is correct in that it is essential to pay attention to current laws. The advice on using a known sperm donor should be used with caution and current legal advice, as should any decision concerning children. In fact, after reading this book and carefully considering the rights and responsibilities that the law spells out for married couples (and which you don't get any say in deciding), some couples may decide that having a lawful civil marriage isn't what they really want.