A Legal Guide for Lesbian & Gay Couples - Softcover

Denis Clifford; Frederick Hertz; Emily Doskow

3.92

36 ratings by Goodreads

9781413306293: A Legal Guide for Lesbian & Gay Couples

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1413306292 ISBN 13: 9781413306293

Publisher: NOLO, 2007

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Protect your rights -- protect your relationship! Now more than ever, it's important that you take the proper legal steps to define and protect your relationship in the eyes of the law. If you don't, you run the risk of being shut out of each other's lives -- and the lives of children you co-parent -- in times of medical, financial or personal crisis. This practical, plain-English guide shows lesbian and gay couples how to make practical decisions about living together, obtain domestic partner benefits, make medical decisions for each other when needed, take care of each other's finances when one partner is incapacitated, leave property to each other, have and raise children through adoption, donor insemination, surrogacy or foster parenting. The 14th edition is updated to provide the latest information on same-sex marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships in the U.S., Canada and around the world. It also includes a CD-ROM that helps you create essential legal documents.

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Review:

Nolo Press legal guides provide useful and accurate information on how to manage your own affairs or, failing this, how to hire a lawyer and negotiate the court system. The rapid changes in gay and lesbian life in the past 30 years have not been reflected in the legal codes of most states, and without enforceable written agreements, gay and lesbian people may find such crucial matters as inheritance, legal guardianship, child custody, and support left to the whim of a judge or state agency. As the writers of this volume (first published in 1980) point out, "married couples' relationships are defined by law," while lesbian and gay couples have the freedom--and responsibility--to create their own legal relationships. Agreements drawn up in advance provide guidance for a time when all is not moonbeams and madness. Tear-out forms and sample documents are included. --Regina Marler

About the Author:

Doskow is a practicing attorney and mediator who has worked with families in the Bay Area for more than 15 years. She specializes in family law, including adoption, parentage issues, domestic partnership formation and dissolution, and divorce. She is a graduate of the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley.

Denis Clifford, a graduate of Columbia Law School, where he was an editor of The Law Review, is a lawyer who specializes in estate planning. He is the author of many Nolo titles including Quick and Legal Will Book and Make Your Own Living Trust and co-author of Plan Your Estate and A Legal Guide for Lesbian and Gay Couples. He has been interviewed by such major media as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Money Magazine.

Frederick Hertz is a practicing attorney-mediator and the author of Legal Affairs: Essential Advice for Same-Sex Couples (Owl Books) and co-author of Nolo's Living Together: A Legal Guide for Unmarried Couples and A Legal Guide for Lesbian & Gay Couples. He lives and works in Oakland, California.

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