Until very recently, gay and lesbian couples were prohibited from legally marrying on almost all states in the United States. After decades of fighting for the right to marry, the LGBT community was finally victorious earlier this year (2015) with the historic decision handed down by the Supreme Court of the United States in Obergefell v. Hodges. Same-sex couples have been fighting for the right to marry for many of the same reasons all couples want to marry – to express love and commitment and to create a family. There are, however, other benefits to being legally married as well that same-sex couples have been excluded from until very recently. These benefits of same-sex marriage are the same benefits heterosexual couples have been enjoying, and largely taking for granted, for decades.

During the 1970s and 1980s almost every state in the U.S. passed a law, or a constitutional amendment, prohibiting same-sex marriage in the state. Any hope of reversing the trend or carving out exemptions to those laws appeared to die with the passage of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, in 1996. DOMA defined marriage as “between a man and a woman.” The practical impact of the various state prohibitions coupled with the DOMA definition or marriage was that even legally married same-sex couples (married in another country or in one of the few states that allowed same-sex couple to marry) were not recognized as being married by the federal government. The result was that same-sex couples lost out on the numerous and varied benefits that come along with being married. In fact, some experts estimated that same-sex couples lost our on over 1000 benefits as a result of their marriage not being recognized by the federal government. The landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges held that the right to marry is a “fundamental right” and, as such, a state may not prohibit same-sex couples from obtaining a license to marry.

The list of benefits that a same-sex couple enjoys once they are legally married is seemingly endless; however, some of the more important benefits include:

• ·Incapacity – in incapacitated, a spouse will typically be authorized to make crucial healthcare decisions.
• ·Death – only a legally married spouse is an heir under state intestate succession laws.
• ·Taxes – “married filing jointly” gets a couple a significant tax break each year from Uncle Sam.
• ·Parenting – an unmarried same-sex coupe used to have to go through the adoption process in order for both parents to have legal rights to the child.
• ·Immigration – only a married, or engaged, individual can sponsor someone for immigration purposes.
• ·Leave – the federal FMLA allows a spouse to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for very close family members.
• ·Insurance – most employer sponsored insurance plans will cover a legal spouse but will not even cover a civil union partner.
• ·Retirement — many retirement benefit plans allow a payee’s benefits to continue after the payee’s death but only if there is a surviving spouse. Only a legal spouse can benefit from your Social Security retirement benefits as well.

At this point it should be apparent that the right to legally marry for a same-sex couple is about far more than love and commitment. It is also about sharing in the many benefits that only married couples enjoy in the United States.

If you have additional questions or concerns about same-sec marriage in the United States, contact the experienced Florida attorneys at Celler Legal, P.A. by calling 954-716-8601 to schedule your appointment.