In 2005, California's domestic partnership statute granted same-sex couples many of the rights and responsibilities that their married counterparts have had for over a century. Along with these rights and responsibilities is the requirement that in the event of a breakdown in the partnership, domestic partners must now file for divorce.



The creation and termination of a registered domestic partnership causes substantial problems for same-sex couples that do not exist for divorcing heterosexual couples:

• Divorcing domestic partners face potential tax problems that their heterosexual counterparts do not.
  
  
• The state statute does not apply to federal rights and benefits. For example, dividing certain pensions and retirement accounts cannot be accomplished by traditional methods allowed in heterosexual divorces.
  
  
• There are many undetermined issues regarding the rights and obligations of domestic partners, including whether or not property owned by one partner in his or her name only prior to 2005 will be deemed community (shared) property or whether that property will remain the titled partner's separate property.

Shane R. Ford is recognized as an expert in domestic partnership dissolutions. He is one of the first specialists in the state to represent divorcing domestic partners. He frequently presents programs to other lawyers and non-lawyers regarding the many complex issues involved with the breakup of a domestic partnership.