The fiftieth anniversary of the March on Washington was recently acknowledged, celebrating the great civil rights battle for equality for our African-American citizens. More recently, same-sex couples have also been engaged in their own battle for equal treatment in issues such as the right to marry, taxation, health and pension benefits, and similar property and economic matters.
In June, 2013, the United States Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 (“DOMA”). DOMA specified that “…the word “marriage” means only a legal union between one man and one woman…and the word “spouse” refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife”. The case at issue involved a lesbian couple who were married in Canada. One of the parties died and left her estate to her partner. The surviving widow filed the federal estate tax return that was due. Because the federal government did not consider the couple married for estate tax purposes, the estate was not qualified to apply the marital deduction available to heterosexual married couples, increasing the estate tax bill by several hundred thousand dollars. The Supreme Court ruled that it is a violation of equal protection principles and an infringement on state sovereignty for the federal government to maintain such a position. In Windsor, the Court determined that same-sex married couples are to be treated as married heterosexual couples and ordered the refund of the excessive tax payment.
In late August, 2013, the Internal Revenue Service issued a subsequent ruling that legally married same-sex couples will be recognized as married, even if the state in which they live does not recognize same-sex marriages. Our readers should know that two legal standards are at play. The “place of celebration” standard mandates that a couple will receive benefits as long as they are legally married, regardless of whether the state in which they now live recognizes the union. The “place of residence” standard mandates that if the state in which the couple lives does not recognize their union, then the couple will not receive benefits.