BILL NUMBER: SB 11 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 5, 2007
INTRODUCED BY Senator Migden
DECEMBER 4, 2006
An act to amend Section 297 Sections 297
and 298.5 of the Family Code, and to amend Section 2854 of the
Probate Code, relating to domestic partnerships.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 11, as amended, Migden. Domestic partnerships.
Existing law provides that 2 unmarried, unrelated adults with a
common residence may establish a domestic partnership by filing a
declaration with the Secretary of State if both persons are members
of the same sex or are over 62 years of age.
This bill would delete that latter same-sex or age eligibility
requirement, thereby allowing any 2 persons who meet the other,
specified criteria to register as domestic partners. The bill would
also make a other nonsubstantive,
technical, and conforming change changes
to an unrelated provision related
provisions .
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 297 of the Family Code is amended to read:
297. (a) Domestic partners are two adults who have chosen to
share one another's lives in an intimate and committed relationship
of mutual caring.
(b) A domestic partnership shall be established in California when
both persons file a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the
Secretary of State pursuant to this division, and, at the time of
filing, all of the following requirements are met:
(1) Both persons have a common residence.
(2) Neither person is married to someone else or is a member of
another domestic partnership with someone else that has not been
terminated, dissolved, or adjudged a nullity.
(3) The two persons are not related by blood in a way that would
prevent them from being married to each other in this state.
(4) Both persons are at least 18 years of age.
(5) Both persons are capable of consenting to the domestic
partnership.
(c) "Have a common residence" means that both domestic partners
share the same residence. It is not necessary that the legal right to
possess the common residence be in both of their names. Two people
have a common residence even if one or both have additional
residences. Domestic partners do not cease to have a common residence
if one leaves the common residence but intends to return.
SEC. 2. Section 298.5 of the Family
Code is amended to read:
298.5. (a) Two persons desiring to become domestic partners may
complete and file a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the
Secretary of State.
(b) The Secretary of State shall register the Declaration of
Domestic Partnership in a registry for those partnerships, and shall
return a copy of the registered form and a Certificate of Registered
Domestic Partnership, and except for those opposite sex
domestic partners who meet the qualifications described in
subparagraph (B) of paragraph (5) of subdivision (b) of Section 297,
a copy of the brochure that is made available to county
clerks and the Secretary of State by the State Department of Health
Services pursuant to Section 358 and distributed to individuals
receiving a confidential marriage license pursuant to Section 503, to
the domestic partners at the mailing address provided by the
domestic partners.
(c) No person who has filed a Declaration of Domestic Partnership
may file a new Declaration of Domestic Partnership or enter a civil
marriage with someone other than their registered domestic partner
unless the most recent domestic partnership has been terminated or a
final judgment of dissolution or nullity of the most recent domestic
partnership has been entered. This prohibition does not apply if the
previous domestic partnership ended because one of the partners died.
(d) When funding allows, the Secretary of State shall print and
make available upon request, pursuant to Section 358, a lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender specific domestic abuse brochure developed
by the State Department of Health Services and made available to the
Secretary of State to domestic partners who qualify pursuant to
Section 297.
SEC. 2. SEC. 3. Section 2854 of the
Probate Code is amended to read:
2854. (a) This chapter does not apply to any public conservator
or public guardian with regard to his or her official acts in that
capacity.
(b) This chapter does not apply to any conservator, guardian, or
trustee when the person is related to the conservatee, ward, or
trustor by blood, marriage, adoption, registered domestic
partnership, or a relationship that satisfies the requirements of
subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 297 of the Family Code.
(c) This chapter does not apply to any trustee who is serving for
the benefit of not more than three people or not more than three
families, or a combination of people or families that does not total
more than three. The number of trust beneficiaries does not count for
the purposes of calculating if a trustee falls within this
exclusion. A trust excluded under subdivision (a) or (b) does not
count for the purpose of calculating if a trustee falls within this
exclusion. For the purposes of this subdivision, family means people
who are related by blood, marriage, adoption, registered domestic
partnership, or a relationship that satisfies the requirements of
subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 297 of the Family Code.
(d) This chapter does not apply to any conservator or guardian who
is not required to file information with the clerk of the court
pursuant to Section 2340, to any person or entity subject to the
oversight of a local government, including an employee of a city,
county, or city and county, or to any person or entity subject to the
oversight of the state or federal government, including an attorney
licensed to practice law in the State of California who acts as
trustee of only attorney client trust accounts, as defined in Section
6211 of the Business and Professions Code.
(e) This chapter does not apply to any conservator who resided in
the same home with the conservatee immediately prior to the condition
or event that gave rise to the necessity of a conservatorship. This
subdivision does not create any order or preference of appointment,
but simply exempts a conservator described by this subdivision from
registration.
(f) This chapter does not apply to a trustee who is any of the
following:
(1) Trust companies, as defined in Section 83.
(2) FDIC-insured institutions, their holding companies,
subsidiaries, or affiliates. For the purposes of this paragraph,
"affiliate" means any entity that shares an ownership interest with
or that is under the common control of, the FDIC-insured institution.
(3) Employees of any entity listed in paragraph (1) or (2) while
serving as trustees in the scope of their duties.