Posts: 1,163
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Andy,
Check out this website:
http://health.hawaii.gov/vitalrecords/ab...il-unions/
I think your retired judge was a little off in his interpretation. The way I read the info from the state website, if you're in a valid legal union (like a legal gay marriage from Calif. or another state's civil union) that doesn't fit the Hawaii definition of a marriage (like gay marriages, as of now) but does meet the civil union criteria (same sex couple, etc.), then your legal union is considered a civil union in Hawaii. However, if you were married in a way that meets Hawaii's current definition of marriage (a non-same sex marriage) then you need to divorce in order to get a civil union.
Lamda Legal offers basically the same interpretation:
http://data.lambdalegal.org/publications...-union.pdf
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Andy, I can't be your lawyer on this forum, but the judge's advice was not correct. It used to be that you had to dissolve a reciprocal beneficiary relationship before you could enter into a Civil Union. The judge may have been thinking of that. But, even that is on longer the case. Your California marriage is automatically accorded the status of a Civil Union in Hawaii. Check Hawaii Revised Statues 572B and/or call Equality Hawaii. Once again, I am not your lawyer, but you are Civil Unioned in Hawaii (whether you like it or not.)
Aloha,
Rob L
Aloha,
Rob L
Posts: 127
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The General Services Administration has announced that same sex spouses of Federal employees will be eligable for benefits, not matter what state they live in (so long of course as they were married in a jurisdiction where it was legal.) They have even declared a special open enrollment period for such spouses.
Aloha,
Rob L
Aloha,
Rob L
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All legally married same–sex spouses will now be considered eligible family members under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), Acting OPM Director Elaine Kaplan said in a Friday memorandum to agency heads. Employees and retirees have until Aug. 26 to make immediate changes to their FEHBP enrollment.
Similarly, same-sex spouses are now eligible for Federal Employees Group Life Insurance, the Federal Employeees Vision and Dental Plan and Long-Term Care Insurance. All retirees in legal same-sex marriages will have two years to tell OPM of their marriage status and make changes to retirement benefits. In the future, “the same-sex spouses of retiring employees will be eligible for survivor annuities,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan’s memo comes just two days after the Supreme Court voided the Defense of Marriage Act, which barred federal recognition of same-sex marriages for purposes of providing benefits. Same-sex marriage is legal in a dozen states and the District of Columbia. In addition, same-sex unions are expected to resume soon in Californinia after the high court effectively affirmed a lower-court ruling that struck down that state’s ban on gay marriage.
At the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights advocacy group, Legal Director Brian Moulton interpreted Kaplan’s memo as
extending eligibility to legally married same-sex couples “regardless of where they reside.” OPM also plans to issue more information “on a broader range of issues” stemming from the court’s decision, Kaplan said in the memo.
http://www.chcoc.gov/transmittals/Transm...talID=5700
hawaiideborah
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The Supreme Court of the United States just made it legal for all same sex partners to have and hold the same rights as any other human beings in this great country of ours.
