Estate Planning for Same-Sex Families

Patience Crozier (Attorney, Cambridge, MA) has published an article entitled Nuts and Bolts: Estate Planning and Family Law Considerations for Same-Sex Families, 30 W. New Eng. L. Rev. 751.

Here is a summary of her article:

These statutory provisions express the Commonwealth’s public policy that marriage is a partnership and, even after death, spouses have a duty to support each other and cannot disinherit a surviving spouse. … As a result, it is critical that same-sex couples execute comprehensive estate planning documents, including a health care proxy, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) waiver, living will, durable power of attorney, and will. … Most Massachusetts cases focus on enforcement of prenuptial agreements upon divorce. … The law presumes that former spouses should no longer have any right to the property of a deceased spouse, or any right to serve as a fiduciary to make critical decisions for the former spouse. … Pending the finalization of a co-parent adoption, unmarried couples should consider petitioning for permanent guardianship of the person and property of the child. … Adopted children are treated the same as biological children under intestacy statutes and have equal rights to inherit as issue of their adoptive parents.