Reciprocal beneficiary relationships in Hawaii

Since 1997, the state of Hawaii has offered reciprocal beneficiary registration for any adults who are prohibited by state law from marrying, including same-sex couples. Reciprocal beneficiaries have access to a number of rights and benefits on the state level, including inheritance rights, workers compensation, the right to sue for wrongful death, health insurance and pension benefits for state employees, hospital visitation, and healthcare decisionmaking.

There are no state residency or U.S. citizenship requirements. The two individuals entering into a reciprocal beneficiary relationship must both be at least 18 years of age, and cannot be married or in another reciprocal beneficiary relationship.

Indiviuals prohibited by state law from marrying one another include, but are not limited to, relationships such as brother and sister of the half as well as to the whole blood, uncle and niece, aunt and nephew, widowed mother and her unmarried son, and two persons of the same sex or gender.

Registration may be done only by mailing a notarized form to the state Department of Health in Honolulu, along with a fee (as of December 2006) of US$8.00. Termination of a reciprocal beneficiary relationship (which may be done by either party acting alone) is handled in the same way. The Department of Health, in turn, mails certificates of registration or termination to the two parties involved.

British law does not recognize Hawaii Reciprocal Beneficiaries as equivalent to civil partnerships under the laws of the United Kingdom.

New developments

On February 27, 2007, a legislation to legalize civil unions will receive its first public hearing in the Hawaii State Legislature on the evening. [1] The Civil Unionship Bill to try and legalize civil unions (which failed last year) will be indroduced to the House sometime in March 2008.^{[citation needed]}

Reciprocal beneficiary relationships in Hawaii

New developments

External links

See also