Colorado Sneaks In Equal Treatment For Couples, Gay And Straight

Reaching both over the rainbow and under the radar, Colorado’s new Designated Beneficiary Agreement Act (HB 1260), granting important new rights to Colorado citizens, quietly became law on July 1. It will be welcomed by hundreds of committed couples, both straight and gay.

Introduced in the House by Rep. Mark Ferrandino and in the Senate by Sen. Jennifer Veiga, both openly gay legislators, the bill grants new legal rights to same-sex couples.

And while Republicans, few of whom supported the bill, attempted to dismiss it as “marriage light” for gays, HB 1260 is a positive step toward providing equal treatment under law to all of Colorado’s citizens.

While any two consenting and legally eligible adults in the state can take advantage of the new law, same-sex partners and some senior citizens in particular stand to gain important new protections by entering into a designated beneficiary agreement.

Under this law, any two adults can complete, sign and record with their county clerk a simple DBA form — available on-line — delegating to each other important financial and end-of-life decisions that, under current statutes, likely would revert to family members in the event of one partner’s death without a will.

The agreement can be revoked by either partner at any time with another simple form filed with the county clerk.

A legally executed will would supersede the designated beneficiary agreement.

The rights available to designated beneficiaries include the power to make medical decisions for the partner, guardianship of an incapacitated partner, dependent status for health insurance eligibility, assignment of life insurance benefits, hospital visitation rights and end-of-life decisions, including burial arrangements.

Property rights are ensured by provisions to facilitate financial planning, recognize joint ownership of assets and provide for automatic inheritance of property in the absence of a will.

A designated beneficiary would also have the right to sue for wrongful death in the event of a partner’s death, a right not previously permitted under Colorado law.

The simplicity of the agreement process extends these important protections to cohabiting couples without the necessity or cost of attorneys or probate. Couples who lack resources to pay lawyers to draw up the contracts, wills and power of attorney, previously required to ensure that partners’ wishes were carried out, will be able to make end-of-life arrangements without legal fees.

Though largely under the statistical radar, one of the fastest growing categories of couples living together without benefit of marriage is senior citizens. The 2000 Census determined that the percentage of unmarried couples 65 and older “rose significantly” in the previous decade, while Forbes Magazine reported that the number of heterosexual “unmarried partner households” increased by 50 percent between 2000 and 2006.

Ninety-nine percent of cohabiting senior couples are widowed, separated, or divorced.

Loss of military and pension benefits, increased taxes on Social Security, and loss of medical benefits are among the most frequently cited reasons for seniors electing to live together rather than marry. For example, unmarried older couples can qualify individually for such benefits as Medicaid without impacting their partner’s resources.

As Mike Drake, speaking for the Colorado Senior Lobby, said, “This (bill) will help ensure that senior citizens who have worked a lifetime to earn benefits can keep them while designating someone to look after their affairs if they are in a medical crisis or at the end of their life.”

As for the gay community, while falling short of granting all the legal rights that would be available to same-sex couples through civil unions or marriage, the Designated Beneficiary Agreement Act does grant them some measure of legal recognition.

“This is an important step toward equality, and it will provide lesbian and gay couples in Colorado, and their families, with important, tangible protections that are needed now,” says Jay Solmonese, President of Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights advocacy group.

The Designated Beneficiary Agreement Act is a unique approach to extending the protection of the law to all of Colorado’s families, including unconventional ones. Though its shortcomings are real, especially for same-sex couples, it is an important first step toward equal treatment under the law of all of Colorado’s diverse families.