(a) Establishment of Domestic Partnerships with LACERS. Domestic partners are two adults who have chosen to share one another’s lives in an intimate and committed relationship of mutual caring. A domestic partnership shall be established for purposes of this Article when both partners file a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Board, provided all the following requirements are met:
(1) Both persons agree to be jointly responsible for each other’s basic living expenses incurred during the domestic partnership.
(2) Neither person is married or a member of another domestic partnership.
(3) The two persons are not related by blood in a way that would prevent them from being married to each other in this State.
(4) Both persons are at least eighteen (18) years of age.
(5) Both persons may be of the same sex or the opposite sex.
(6) Both persons are capable of consenting to the domestic partnership.
An Affidavit of Domestic Partnership filed prior to July 1, 2000, with the Board shall be treated for all purposes of this Article as being the same as a Declaration of Domestic Partnership filed pursuant to this subsection.
(b) Termination of Domestic Partnerships with LACERS. Once a domestic partnership is established as provided above, this domestic partnership shall be terminated when any of the following occurs:
(1) One partner gives, or sends by certified mail, to the other partner a written notice that he or she is terminating the partnership.
(2) One of the domestic partners dies.
(3) One of the domestic partners marries.
Upon termination of a domestic partnership, at least one of the former partners shall file a Notice of Termination of Domestic Partnership with the Board, provided that failure to file such notice shall not prevent the termination of the domestic partnership. This provision shall apply both to partnerships established on or after July 1, 2000 by the filing of a Declaration of Domestic Partnership and to partnerships established prior to July 1, 2000, by the filing of an Affidavit of Domestic Partnership.
(c) Six Month Prohibition. No person who has established a domestic partnership, by filing either an Affidavit of Domestic Partnership or a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Board, may file a new Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Board until at least six (6) months after the date that a Notice of Termination of Domestic Partnership was filed with the Board as provided herein. This prohibition does not apply if the previous domestic partnership ended because one of the partners died or married.
(d) Board Authority to Establish Earlier Filing Date. Where a Declaration of Domestic Partnership is required to be on file with the Board for at least one (1) year, the Board may establish an earlier filing date than the actual date that the parties filed their Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Board upon sufficient proof that the parties have an Affidavit or Declaration of Domestic Partnership on file earlier with the Personnel Department.
(e) Death Prior to Filing. Should a member die prior to filing a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Board, but (1) have a current domestic partner based upon an earlier established domestic partnership with the Personnel Department, and (2) have a beneficiary designation on file with the Board that designates that domestic partner as the beneficiary entitled to receive all of the member’s contributions, then such domestic partner shall be entitled to receive the same benefits that he or she would have received had their domestic partnership been filed with the Board, as provided herein, on the date that the parties filed their Affidavit or Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Personnel Department.
SECTION HISTORY
Added by Ord. No. 182,629, Eff. 7-25-13.