In this article from the Washington Post (free registration required) here discussing Maryland’s constitutional battle over same-gender marriage, you will find a partial list of the “rights, benefits and obligations” accompanying a valid marriage license:
- The right to visit a spouse in the hospital
- The right to make medical decisions for a sick spouse
- The right to make funeral arrangements for a deceased spouse
- Access to family courts for dissolution of relationships
- Death benefits for surviving spouses of firefighters and police officers
- Mutual responsibility for debts
- Joint assessment of income for determining eligibility for state government assistance programs
- Ability to sponsor a spouse from another country for a green card
- Community property ownership protections
- Child custody, visitation, and duties of financial support to children
- Eligibility for health benefits (without taxation) and COBRA benefits through an employer
- Ability to take leave to care for a sick spouse under the Family and Medical Leave Act
- Right to inherit a spouse’s pension
- Entitlement to inherit social security and disability benefits upon the death of a spouse
- Ability to inherit jointly owned property without incurring tax penalties
- Right to file joint income taxes
- Ability to put a spouse on the deed to a home without incurring tax penalties
- Access to “family memberships”
- Domestic violence protections
- Immunity from testifying against a spouse
- Right to sue for wrongful death of a spouse
As many of you know, the Senate is expected to vote Wednesday on the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would define marriage as the union of a man and a woman and apparently block courts from ruling otherwise. Read about the scheduled vote here in an article from the Associated Press. Leading the chorus of support for an amendment, President Bush said in his radio address Saturday that legalizing same-gender marriage would redefine the most fundamental institution of civilization. “If courts create their own arbitrary definition of marriage as a mere legal contract and cut marriage off from its cultural, religious and natural roots then the meaning of marriage is lost and the institution is weakened,” he said. “We are ready to rock and roll on the debate on this,” said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.
All of this will, of course, continue to have significant repercussions in the benefits world.