Posting this here because I have factual questions regarding civil unions in the United States.
Some states currently have (and some others used to have) state-sanctioned civil unions/domestic partnerships. Are (were) these restricted to same-sex couples or could heterosexual couples decide to go the civil union route rather than get married?
What’s the difference (in practical terms, not philosophically speaking) between civil unions and traditional marriage? What rights and responsibilities does marriage incur that are not incurred by a civil union and vice versa?
For example, I’m pretty sure that couples bound by civil union are not entitled to file their taxes with filing status of Married, but must each file as Single. Suppose a couple where one grossed $28,800 and the other grossed $78,800. This gives them $25,000 and $75,000 after the personal exemption. They take the standard deduction. If my math is right, Married Filing Jointly results in total federal income tax of $14,085. Filing as Single, they pay $2,422.50 and $13,292.50 for a total of $15,715. Filing as Married would result in federal taxes $1,630 less. If they each grossed $53,800 their federal tax bill would be $14,085. So if incomes are disparate there’s a chance that being married costs less in taxes than being single. But if they elect to itemize deductions, they may be able to set things up where one person gets all the mortgage interest and property tax deductions and the other takes the standard deduction; this could (I think) result in lower taxes if filing as Single.
Assuming that such is allowed, how many heterosexual couples have elected for a civil union rather than traditional marriage?
At this time for the federal level, civil unions and marriage are functionally equivalent. More to the point: neither are recognized. Whether married or civil unioned, same-sex couples are not supposed* to file their federal taxes as married. I file mine as single. We file our Massachusetts State tax as Married.
The distinction of marriage carries the benefit of recognition and equivalence to opposite-sex marriages. I’m married – people know what that means. “Civil Union” is confusing as evidenced by the OP ;).
Civil unions don’t travel, regardless of the gender of the people involved; a CU in one state or country is recognized there, and only there. That’s one difference.
Washington state allows registered domestic partnerships for couples of either gender. In fact, now that we have legalized gay marriage, most domestic partnerships will be heterosexual couples.
Many people choose this option because of the finer points of certain laws - federal income tax and Medicaid being two examples. Others do it as some sort of protest against marriage that still provides many of the same benefits.
One problem in answer your question is that the rules for civil unions or domestic partnerships are different in every state, so there are at least 50 correct (and different) answers.
Well, civil marriages, meaning marriages authorized and recognized by the civil authority, including virtually all religious marriages, are legal in all 50 US states, the UK, France, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Norway, Spain, Russia, and virtually every nation.
What ‘civil unions’ meant or mean, and who is eligible to contract them, will vary with which jurisdiction and when. But in general IMO they constitute cases of, “It may walk like a duck, swim like a duck, and quack like a duck, but it’s really a completely discrete form of anseriform waterfowl.” :dubious:
None of the states that have civil unions has a provision for opposite-sex couples to enter one; they’re strictly a “seperate-but-equal” status for same-sex couples. I do wonder; if a state did allow opposite-sex civil unions would said unions be reconized by the federal government? What if a state ditched “marriage” entirely and only had civil unions?
This is completely incorrect. Currently civil unions in Hawaii and Illinois are available to both same sex and opposite sex couples; in many of the states that had civil unions prior to legalizing same sex marriage, they were also available to opposite sex couples.
Domestic partnership in California and in Oregon is available to both same sex and opposite sex partners.
Question 2 is of the form “When did you stop beating your wife?” There may be instances of state law treating civil unions and marriage differently in a given state, or there might not, and as noted, the federal government (unconstitutionally in my view – we’ll see what the Court says later this year) doesn’t recognize either. But the reason the two things are different is a philosophical one – one is marriage, and one isn’t.
If my question came across that way, I apologize – I didn’t mean it to. Really what I was asking was how do the two forms of union (marriage and civil union) legally differ? Given the opportunity to have either, are there reasons (other than the emotional one of one being marriage and the other not) why people would choose one rather than the other?
Not really. The question “what is the practical difference between marriage and civil union?” can be answered with “nothing” if there really is no difference.