Calif appeals court rules
in domestic partners case
SANTA ANA (AP) — People who mistakenly believe they are
registered as domestic partners in California have the same rights as those who
fulfilled terms of the state’s Domestic Partner Act, an appeals court ruled.
There is “no sound reason” to deprive persons of their
rights if they “reasonably believed” they had registered as domestic partners,
a panel of the state 4th District Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. That reverses
an Orange County court ruling which denied a gay man’s 2006 petition to
dissolve a domestic partnership.
The man and his partner signed and notarized a 2003
partnership agreement, but the partner contended it was never filed with the
California secretary of state and therefore no partnership had been formed.
The reversal allows Darrin Ellis, 35, of Newport Beach, to
try to show he had a good-faith belief there was a registered domestic
partnership in order to seek property and other assets acquired during his
relationship with David Arriaga, 44.
The appellate decision cited a doctrine that “a person’s reasonable, good-faith belief that his or her marriage is
valid entitles that person to the benefits of marriage, even if the marriage is
not, in fact, valid.”
That doctrine “extends to those who intended to register
their domestic partnerships ... and had a reasonable, good-faith belief that
the registration had occurred,” the decision said.
California bans same-sex marriage but
allows same-sex civil unions or domestic partnerships that confer most of the
same legal rights, such as access to family benefits at work and the ability to
adopt children as a couple. About 49,000 couples are registered.