If DOMA is repealed or ruled unconstitutional, then same-sex marriages will have to be given the same effect as opposite sex marriages. But what about registered same sex couples in those states that recognize the relationship as a marital equivalent, but don't call it marriage? Read More ...

The recently issued IRS guidance for community property partners and same-sex spouses in California (and partners in Washington and Nevada) clarified an important substantive question that affects couples in all 16 jurisdictions where same-sex relationships are recognized. If under state law, your partner's child is recognized as your stepchild, then that child is your stepchild for federal income tax purposes. Read More ...

This is not a tax case. It is a case involving a same-sex couple and their adoption, in New York, of a child who had been born in Louisiana. The couple requested that the child's Louisiana birth certificate be changed in accord with recognition of their out of state adoption. The state registrar refused. Read More ...

In the past few weeks, the IRS has issued two pronouncements on this question, both concluding that if the receipts are community income under the applicable state law then they will be taxed as community income at the federal level. Read More ...

I am sad to report that Paula Ettelbrick, long time legal crusader for LGBT rights, died early Friday morning. Read More ...