{"id":145,"date":"2019-11-05T16:15:27","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T16:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherbertlaw.com\/blog\/?p=145"},"modified":"2019-11-05T16:15:27","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T16:15:27","slug":"the-difference-between-marriage-and-civil-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sherbertlaw.com\/blog\/the-difference-between-marriage-and-civil-union\/","title":{"rendered":"The Difference Between Marriage and Civil Union"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Whether born of curiosity or a desire to make your\nrelationship official, the question of marriage versus civil union is a common\none among long-together couples. This question arises even more often for\nsame-sex couples living in a state that does not recognize same-sex marriage.\nRegardless of your relationship status, the ultimate decision you make when\ndeciding between getting married and entering into a civil union will depend mostly\non the law in your state, and then on personal preference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue reading to learn the difference between marriage and\ncivil union, including where you can get trusted legal advice concerning your\nfamily legal needs and marriage rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Same
Same Sex Marriage Lawyer 407-887-7058<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Civil Unions<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

A civil union is often confused with marriage because it is\na marriage-like arrangement between two couples. In states that allow civil\nunions, couples are granted, under law, a very similar set of rights and responsibilities\nto a conventional marriage. For instance, Hawaii called their civil unions, “reciprocal\nbeneficiary arrangements.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main separate between these state-permitted civil unions\nand marriage is the federal law. The federal government does not recognize civil\nunions, even if a state does. As a result, civil unions do not entitled\npartners to federal benefits, and therefore, cannot file taxes jointly, nor have\nrights to one another’s Social Security and Medicaid benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Civil unions do offer some rights and benefits. Couples who\nhave entered into a civil union can file state taxes jointly, own property\ntogether, have rights to spouses employment benefits (i.e. health insurance), set\nup inheritance rights, take bereavement leave from work in the case that a\nspouse dies, have joint parental rights, and much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Same-Sex Marriages<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Civil unions have been widely practiced in states that do not allow same-sex marriage, since they give couples a way to publicly commit to one another and make their relationship official. Once the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage bans were unconstitutional in 2015 (Obergefell v. Hodges), some states, like Vermont, automatically converted all civil unions of same-sex couples to a legal marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Florida and Civil Unions<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Here in the state of Florida, our government does not recognize civil union nor domestic partnership, and therefore, will not grant spousal-like rights to unmarried couples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where to Get Marital Advice in Florida<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Contact Attorney Shane T. Herbert at 407-887-7058<\/strong> to get trusted legal marital law advice<\/a> from a seasoned family lawyer in Orlando, Florida. You can choose to have your first appointment over the phone or even video conference, if needed. If you choose an in-office visit, our family law office is conveniently located in the Metro West area, within the Offices of Veranda Park, which offers free parking. We look forward to helping you resolve your family legal matters!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Shane
Shane T. Herbert, Attorney at Law 407-887-7058<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whether born of curiosity or a desire to make your relationship official, the question of marriage versus civil union is a common one among long-together couples. This question arises even more often for same-sex couples living in a state that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,77],"tags":[144,139,142,140,138,143,141],"class_list":["post-145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-law","category-marital-law","tag-civil-union-benefits","tag-civil-union-facts","tag-civil-union-marriage-difference","tag-civil-union-same-sex-couples","tag-civil-union-vs-marriage","tag-civil-unions-florida","tag-civil-unions-legal-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sherbertlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sherbertlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sherbertlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sherbertlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sherbertlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sherbertlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147,"href":"https:\/\/www.sherbertlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145\/revisions\/147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sherbertlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sherbertlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sherbertlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sherbertlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}