Under the law, LGBT partners and their children are treated more like business and contractual partners than what they really are: life partners and families. To protect yourself against discrimination, you need the help of a life and estate planning attorney who is creative and well-versed in LGBT issues such as how to:
- Manage your assets to avoid gift tax and other unintended consequences
- Avoid jeopardizing the legal status of the non-biological or non-adoptive parent to the children in life and estate planning documents
- Make decisions as to who takes the mortgage interest deduction or who claims a child as a dependent, and how this affects matters beyond just income taxation
- Develop an estate plan that includes life insurance and other assets to avoid court involvement for your partner and children after your death
- Develop health care documents that go beyond the standard living wills and powers of attorney, to obtain the level of protection granted automatically to “next of kin”
Life and Estate Planning: Protecting LGBT and Same-Sex Couples