{"id":485,"date":"2010-04-30T18:43:39","date_gmt":"2010-05-01T01:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dbfwclegal.com\/?p=485"},"modified":"2020-07-31T10:41:36","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T17:41:36","slug":"domestic-partners-get-visitation-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dbfwclegal.com\/domestic-partners-get-visitation-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Domestic Partners Get Visitation Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 hundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-overflow:visible;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last fusion-column-no-min-height\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p>Who would you like to have with you when you are ill or injured in the hospital?\u00a0 Most likely you would hope to have your partner of many years there with you to hold your hand when things get rough.\u00a0 Although many of us take for granted that we would be allowed that luxury, until just recently unmarried couples had no assurance that their partner would be allowed to visit them in the hospital\u2014especially if a \u201crecognized\u201d family member such as a parent or sibling chose to refuse access.<\/p>\n<p>In February 2009, Phoenix passed an important milestone when the City Council adopted <a href=\"http:\/\/phoenix.about.com\/od\/gay\/qt\/domesticpartner.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an ordinance that gives domestic partners, same sex or not, the right to register as domestic partners<\/a> and establish the right to hospital visitation until the registration is officially revoked.<\/p>\n<p>Before this ordinance, and in other parts of the state, even if the domestic partners had executed health care powers of attorney and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hhs.gov\/ocr\/privacy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">HIPAA releases<\/a>, the family could still exclude the partner from visitation.\u00a0 Now however, if the domestic partners reside in Phoenix and have registered, they will have established a paramount right to visitation.\u00a0 Area hospitals outside Phoenix are not bound by the registration and as of now the only other Arizona city with a domestic partners registry is Tucson.\u00a0 Mesa\u2019s city council is trying to adopt a similar provision, but opposition forces are organizing against the effort.<\/p>\n<p>The registration conveys no other rights, but might be useful in establishing the credentials necessary to obtain benefits where such benefits are offered.<\/p>\n<p>It appears more opposite sex couples than same sex couples are taking advantage of Phoenix\u2019 ordinance, but the ordinance is hailed as a progressive step toward the recognition of human rights across sexual preference boundaries.<\/p>\n<p>Estate planning for unmarried couples is crucial if property rights are to be inherited and disruption to the survivor\u2019s lifestyle is to be avoided.\u00a0 Traditional tools such as rights of survivorship, POD\/TOD, beneficiary deeds, Wills, trusts, and powers of attorney can all effectively be used to provide an estate plan, but the impact on the decedent\u2019s family and the survivor must be carefully considered.\u00a0 Even small estates must be carefully planned if disputes are to be avoided.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[50,19,37],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dbfwclegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dbfwclegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dbfwclegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dbfwclegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dbfwclegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dbfwclegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dbfwclegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dbfwclegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dbfwclegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}