All meetings, including initial consultations, can be handled either through the phone, FaceTime, Zoom, or in person.
Domestic partnerships continue to provide a valuable option for persons living together to obtain many of the legal benefits enjoyed by married couples, but without marriage. A domestic partnership DP may provide financial benefits, particularly for seniors, in specific situations. Many states, counties and cities began enacting laws in the 's that allowed creation of domestic partnerships as legally recognized relationships. These laws primarily benefitted same-sex couples who were, at the time, denied the legal right to marry.
When the U. Supreme Court declared that same-sex couples had the constitutional right to marry, the need for domestic partnership laws dwindled.
Many employers stopped providing benefits to domestic partners. In some states, such as Washington, most domestic partnerships were automatically converted to marriages. However, Washington is among the few states that continues to extend statewide benefits to domestic partners. Even though the majority of states do not provide benefits to domestic partnerships, dozens of local municipalities in those states do allow couples to register as domestic partners and to obtain local benefits based on that legally recognized status.
For example, the state of Arizona does not recognize domestic partnerships but the cities of Phoenix and Tucson do extend benefits to partners. The specific requirements for creating a DP vary by jurisdiction.
