After the marriage, if there are children born, you might expect, and advocates would argue, that the children are “issue” of both parents, and that a parent/child relationship is automatically created. However, the law on the books about parent and child relationships does not clearly support such a reasonable expectation. The child can clearly inherit in the absence of a will from a natural or adoptive parent, but not from the same sex spouse.
During the next few years while same sex marriage is being implemented, I agree with second parent adoption lawyers who suggest that the married same sex couple go through a second parent adoption (permitted in Oregon and at least twenty other states). If no such adoption is completed, then the nongenetic parent will risk no recognition of the parental relationship for inheritance purposes.
To have the unadopted child inherit from the relatives of the nongenetic parent, those relatives will need to specifically mention the child by name and make specific provision for the child. For example, if a grandparent leaves $25,000 to the spouse, and if she dies before the grandparent, the $25,000 goes to the issue of the spouse, whether the child is adopted MATTERS. The minor child who is adopted by the spouse WILL inherit the $25,000 for “issue” and the minor child who was not adopted gets nothing. What rights do you want for your child?
If the couple wants parental rights to vary from the normal parental rights and responsibilities, and do not want to do a second parent adoption, then they can create a domestic partner/marital agreement to nail down rights in event of dissolution or death of a partner, and create wills or trusts to implement their wishes upon the death of a partner.
After the marriage, if there are children born, you might expect, and advocates would argue, that the children are “issue” of both parents, and that a parent/child relationship is automatically created. However, the law on the books about parent and child relationships does not clearly support such a reasonable expectation. The child can clearly inherit in the absence of a will from a natural or adoptive parent, but not from the same sex spouse.
During the next few years while same sex marriage is being implemented, I agree with second parent adoption lawyers who suggest that the married same sex couple go through a second parent adoption (permitted in Oregon and at least twenty other states). If no such adoption is completed, then the nongenetic parent will risk no recognition of the parental relationship for inheritance purposes.
To have the unadopted child inherit from the relatives of the nongenetic parent, those relatives will need to specifically mention the child by name and make specific provision for the child. For example, if a grandparent leaves $25,000 to the spouse, and if she dies before the grandparent, the $25,000 goes to the issue of the spouse, whether the child is adopted MATTERS. The minor child who is adopted by the spouse WILL inherit the $25,000 for “issue” and the minor child who was not adopted gets nothing. What rights do you want for your child?
If the couple wants parental rights to vary from the normal parental rights and responsibilities, and do not want to do a second parent adoption, then they can create a domestic partner/marital agreement to nail down rights in event of dissolution or death of a partner, and create wills or trusts to implement their wishes upon the death of a partner. Inheritance rights for children born during the same sex marriage.
