Registration - Domestic Partner Registration - CA Family Law

Section § 298

The Secretary of State in California provides forms for declaring or ending a domestic partnership. These forms need a notary's signature to be valid. The Declaration form explains that domestic partners have similar rights and responsibilities as spouses and gives instructions on termination. The state will also provide resources on domestic abuse specific to the LGBT community when funding is available. The forms can be downloaded online or obtained at the Secretary of State’s office, with a fee charged for processing. An additional $23 fee supports domestic violence prevention programs in the LGBT community, unless the partners are 62 or older. To register as domestic partners, both partners must affirm their eligibility, provide contact information, consent to California courts' authority, and truthfully complete the form, which must be notarized. There is also an option on the form for partners to indicate if they are changing their name.

(a)

(1) The Secretary of State shall prepare forms entitled “Declaration of Domestic Partnership” and “Notice of Termination of Domestic Partnership” to meet the requirements of this division. These forms shall require the signature and seal of an acknowledgment by a notary public to be binding and valid.

(2) The instructions on the “Declaration of Domestic Partnership” form shall include both of the following:

(A) An explanation that registered domestic partners have the same rights, protections, and benefits, and are subject to the same responsibilities, obligations, and duties under law as are granted to and imposed upon spouses.

(B) An explanation of how to terminate a registered domestic partnership.

(3) When funding allows, the Secretary of State shall include on the form notice that a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender specific domestic abuse brochure is available upon request.

(b)

(1) These forms shall be available to the public at the office of the Secretary of State or on the Secretary of State’s internet website. The Secretary of State’s internet website shall include all of the information required in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a).

(2) The Secretary of State shall, by regulation, establish fees for the actual costs of processing each of these forms and shall charge these fees to persons filing the forms.

(3) There is hereby established a fee of twenty-three dollars ($23) to be charged in addition to the existing fees established by regulation to persons filing domestic partner registrations pursuant to Section 297 for development and support of a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender curriculum for training workshops on domestic violence, conducted pursuant to Section 13823.15 of the Penal Code, and for the support of a grant program to promote healthy nonviolent relationships in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. This paragraph does not apply to persons filing a domestic partner registration when one or both of the domestic partners are 62 years of age or older.

(4) The fee established by paragraph (3) shall be deposited in the Equality in Prevention and Services for Domestic Abuse Fund, which is hereby established. The fund shall be administered by the Office of Emergency Services, and expenditures from the fund shall be used to support the purposes of paragraph (3).

(c) The Declaration of Domestic Partnership shall require each person who wants to become a domestic partner to (1) state that the person meets the requirements of Section 297 at the time the form is signed, (2) provide a mailing address, (3) state that the person consents to the jurisdiction of the Superior Courts of California for the purpose of a proceeding to obtain a judgment of dissolution or nullity of the domestic partnership or for legal separation of partners in the domestic partnership, or for any other proceeding related to the partners’ rights and obligations, even if one or both partners ceases to be a resident of, or to maintain a domicile in, this state, (4) sign the form with a declaration that representations made therein are true, correct, and contain no material omissions of fact to the best knowledge and belief of the applicant, and (5) have a notary public acknowledge the signature. Both partners’ signatures shall be affixed to one Declaration of Domestic Partnership form, which shall then be transmitted to the Secretary of State according to the instructions provided on the form. Filing an intentionally and materially false Declaration of Domestic Partnership shall be punishable as a misdemeanor.

(d) The Declaration of Domestic Partnership form shall contain an optional section for either party or both parties to indicate a change in name pursuant to Section 298.6. The optional section shall require a party indicating a change in name to provide the person’s date of birth.

domestic partnership Declaration of Domestic Partnership Notice of Termination notary public same rights as spouses domestic abuse resources LGBT community processing fees online forms dissolution legal separation Superior Courts of California misdemeanor name change Equality in Prevention and Services for Domestic Abuse Fund

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 135, Sec. 3. (SB 30) Effective January 1, 2020.)

Section § 298.5

If two people want to become domestic partners in California, they need to fill out a Declaration of Domestic Partnership and submit it to the Secretary of State. Once registered, the state will send back a copy of the registration, a certificate, and a health brochure to the couple's address. Before you can file a new domestic partnership or get married to someone else, any previous partnership must be legally ended, either through termination, dissolution, or because one partner died. Additionally, if resources are available, a specific brochure about domestic abuse in the LGBTQ community will be provided to eligible partners. The certificate will also show any name changes made during the registration.

(a) Two persons desiring to become domestic partners may complete and file a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Secretary of State.

(b) The Secretary of State shall register the Declaration of Domestic Partnership in a registry for those partnerships, and shall return a copy of the registered form, a Certificate of Registered Domestic Partnership, and a copy of the brochure that is made available to county clerks and the Secretary of State by the State Department of Public Health pursuant to Section 358 and distributed to individuals receiving a confidential marriage license pursuant to Section 503, to the domestic partners at the mailing address provided by the domestic partners.

(c) A person who has filed a Declaration of Domestic Partnership may not file a new Declaration of Domestic Partnership or enter a civil marriage with someone other than their registered domestic partner unless the most recent domestic partnership has been terminated or a final judgment of dissolution or nullity of the most recent domestic partnership has been entered. This prohibition does not apply if the previous domestic partnership ended because one of the partners died.

(d) When funding allows, the Secretary of State shall print and make available upon request, pursuant to Section 358, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender specific domestic abuse brochure developed by the State Department of Public Health and made available to the Secretary of State to domestic partners who qualify pursuant to Section 297.

(e) The Certificate of Registered Domestic Partnership shall include the name used by each party before registration of the domestic partnership and the new name, if any, selected by each party upon registration of the domestic partnership.

domestic partnership Declaration of Domestic Partnership Secretary of State registry Certificate of Registered Domestic Partnership termination dissolution nullity death of partner LGBTQ domestic abuse brochure name change State Department of Public Health confidential marriage license mailing address

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 135, Sec. 4. (SB 30) Effective January 1, 2020.)

Section § 298.6

This law explains that people in a registered domestic partnership in California do not have to change their last names. If they choose to, one or both can change their middle or last names during registration. They can use their partner's last name, their birth name, combine names, or hyphenate them. This new name becomes legally recognized with a certified Declaration of Domestic Partnership. However, they can also choose to change their name later in other ways. The provision doesn't stop someone from later using another name or petitioning the court for a name change. This rule doesn't limit the common law right to change names nor does it restrict other forms of legal name change.

(a) Parties to a registered domestic partnership shall not be required to have the same name. Neither party shall be required to change their name. A person’s name shall not change upon registration as a domestic partner unless that person elects to change their name pursuant to subdivision (b).

(b)

(1) One party or both parties to a registered domestic partnership may elect to change the middle or last names by which that party wishes to be known after registration of the domestic partnership by entering the new name in the space provided on the Declaration of Domestic Partnership form without intent to defraud.

(2) A person may adopt any of the following middle or last names pursuant to paragraph (1):

(A) The current last name of the other domestic partner.

(B) The last name of either domestic partner given at birth.

(C) A name combining into a single last name all or a segment of the current last name or the last name of either domestic partner given at birth.

(D) A hyphenated combination of last names.

(3)

(A) An election by a person to change the person’s name pursuant to paragraph (1) shall serve as a record of the name change. A certified copy of the Declaration of Domestic Partnership containing the new name, or retaining the former name, shall constitute proof that the use of the new name or retention of the former name is lawful.

(B) A certified copy of a Declaration of Domestic Partnership shall be accepted as identification establishing a true, full name for purposes of Section 12800.7 of the Vehicle Code.

(C) This section does not prohibit the Department of Motor Vehicles from accepting as identification other documents establishing a true, full name for purposes of Section 12800.7 of the Vehicle Code. Those documents may include, without limitation, a certified copy of a document that is substantially equivalent to a Certificate of Registered Domestic Partnership that records either of the following:

(i) A legal union of two persons that was validly formed in another jurisdiction and is recognized as a valid domestic partnership in this state pursuant to Section 299.2.

(ii) A legal union of domestic partners as defined by a local jurisdiction pursuant to Section 299.6.

(D) This section shall be applied in a manner consistent with the requirements of Sections 1653.5 and 12801 of the Vehicle Code.

(4) The adoption of a new name, or the choice not to adopt a new name, by means of a Declaration of Domestic Partnership pursuant to paragraph (1) shall not abrogate the right of either party to adopt a different name through usage at a future date, or to petition the superior court for a change of name pursuant to Title 8 (commencing with Section 1275) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

(c) This section does not abrogate the common law right of a person to change the person’s name, or the right of a person to petition the superior court for a change of name pursuant to Title 8 (commencing with Section 1275) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

domestic partnership name change registered partnership middle name last name Declaration of Domestic Partnership name documentation Vehicle Code identification name combination hyphenated names legal name change court petition common law name change certified copy usage based name change

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 135, Sec. 5. (SB 30) Effective January 1, 2020.)

Section § 298.7

This law requires the Secretary of State to set up a way for people living together as domestic partners to create a confidential domestic partnership. The process includes keeping their partnership record private, only accessible by court order, and allows charging a fee to maintain this confidentiality.

The Secretary of State shall establish a process by which two persons, who have been living together as domestic partners and who meet the requirements of paragraphs (1) to (4), inclusive, of subdivision (b) of Section 297, may enter into a confidential domestic partnership. This process shall do all of the following:

(a) Maintain each confidential Declaration of Domestic Partnership as a permanent record that is not open to public inspection except upon order of the court issued upon a showing of good cause.

(b) Authorize the Secretary of State to charge a reasonable fee to offset costs directly connected with maintaining confidentiality of a Declaration of Domestic Partnership.

domestic partners confidential domestic partnership permanent record court order good cause fee privacy record maintenance living together confidential process

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 135, Sec. 6. (SB 30) Effective January 1, 2020.)

Section § 298.8

This law requires the Secretary of State to create a yearly report by March 1st that lists domestic partnerships registered in the previous year where at least one partner was underage. The report must include the total number of these partnerships, the ages of the partners, and their gender, if available. The report can't include any personal information like names or addresses and must be publically accessible.

(a) The Secretary of State shall create a document no later than March 1, 2020, with annual updates no later than March 1 of each year thereafter, disaggregated by county, containing only the following information concerning domestic partnerships that were registered during the preceding calendar year and in which one or both of the parties were minors at the time the domestic partnership was established:

(1) The total number of those registered domestic partnerships.

(2) Itemized for each of those registered domestic partnerships, the age of each party at the time the domestic partnership was established.

(3) Itemized for each of those registered domestic partnerships, the gender of each party as documented on the court order pursuant to Section 297.1, unless the court order does not include the gender.

(b) The document shall not contain the names, addresses, or other personal identifying information of parties to a registered domestic partnership, or any information identifying a registered domestic partnership. The document shall not contain a registered domestic partnership or a copy of the court order described in Section 297.1.

(c) The Secretary of State shall make the document available to the public upon request.

domestic partnerships underage partners age of partners gender Secretary of State annual report public access confidentiality personal information court order Section 297.1

(Added by Stats. 2018, Ch. 660, Sec. 2. (SB 273) Effective January 1, 2019.)