26.60.015
Intent. (Effective if E2SSB 5688 is approved at the November 2009 election under Referendum Measure 71.)

It is the intent of the legislature that for all purposes under state law, state registered domestic partners shall be treated the same as married spouses. Any privilege, immunity, right, benefit, or responsibility granted or imposed by statute, administrative or court rule, policy, common law or any other law to an individual because the individual is or was a spouse, or because the individual is or was an in-law in a specified way to another individual, is granted on equivalent terms, substantive and procedural, to an individual because the individual is or was in a state registered domestic partnership or because the individual is or was, based on a state registered domestic partnership, related in a specified way to another individual. The provisions of chapter 521, Laws of 2009 shall be liberally construed to achieve equal treatment, to the extent not in conflict with federal law, of state registered domestic partners and married spouses.

[2009 c 521 § 1.]

26.60.020
Definitions.

26.60.030
Requirements.

To enter into a state registered domestic partnership the two persons involved must meet the following requirements:

     (1) Both persons share a common residence;

     (2) Both persons are at least eighteen years of age;

     (3) Neither person is married to someone other than the party to the domestic partnership and neither person is in a state registered domestic partnership with another person;

     (4) Both persons are capable of consenting to the domestic partnership;

     (5) Both of the following are true:

     (a) The persons are not nearer of kin to each other than second cousins, whether of the whole or half blood computing by the rules of the civil law; and

     (b) Neither person is a sibling, child, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew to the other person; and

     (6) Either (a) both persons are members of the same sex; or (b) at least one of the persons is sixty-two years of age or older.

[2007 c 156 § 4.]

26.60.040
Registration — Records — Fees. (Effective unless E2SSB 5688 is approved at the November 2009 election under Referendum Measure 71.)

26.60.050
Termination — Records — Fees. (Effective unless E2SSB 5688 is approved at the November 2009 election under Referendum Measure 71.)

26.60.055
Termination. (Effective unless E2SSB 5688 is approved at the November 2009 election under Referendum Measure 71.)

(1) Notwithstanding this chapter, a domestic partnership may be terminated without filing a petition for dissolution in superior court, provided that all of the following conditions exist at the time of the filing of the notice of termination:

     (a) The notice of termination of state registered domestic partnership is signed by both registered domestic partners.

     (b) Neither party has children under the age of eighteen, whether born or adopted before or after registration of the domestic partnership, and neither of the registered domestic partners, to their knowledge, is pregnant.

     (c) The state registered domestic partnership is not more than five years in duration.

     (d) Neither party has any ownership interest in real property wherever situated, and neither party leases a residence, with the exception of the lease of a residence occupied by either party which satisfies the following requirements:

     (i) The lease does not include an option to purchase; and

     (ii) The lease terminates within one year from the date of filing the notice of termination of state registered domestic partnership.

     (e) There are no unpaid obligations in excess of four thousand dollars, as adjusted by subsection (3) of this section, incurred by either or both of the parties after registration of the domestic partnership, excluding the amount of any unpaid obligation with respect to an automobile.

     (f) The total fair market value of community property assets, net of any encumbrances, including any deferred compensation or retirement plan, is less than twenty-five thousand dollars, as adjusted by subsection (3) of this section, and neither party has separate property assets, net of any encumbrances, in excess of that amount.

     (g) The parties have executed an agreement setting forth the division of assets and the assumption of liabilities of the community property, and have executed any documents, title certificates, bills of sale, or other evidence of transfer necessary to effectuate the agreement.

     (h) The parties waive any rights to maintenance by the other domestic partner.

     (i) Both parties desire that the domestic partnership be terminated.

     (2) The termination of a domestic partnership pursuant to this section does not prejudice nor bar the rights of either of the parties to institute an action in the superior court to set aside the termination for fraud, duress, mistake, or any other ground recognized at law or in equity. A court may set aside the termination of state registered domestic partnership and declare the termination of the domestic partnership null and void upon proof that the parties did not meet the requirements of this section at the time of the filing of the notice of termination of state registered domestic partnership with the secretary of state.

     (3) On January 1, 2009, and on each January 1st of each odd-numbered year thereafter, the amounts in subsection (1)(e) and (f) of this section shall be adjusted to reflect any change in the value of the dollar. The adjustments shall be made by multiplying the base amounts by the percentage change in the Washington state consumer price index, with the result rounded to the nearest thousand dollars. The administrative office of the courts shall compute and publish the amounts.

[2008 c 6 § 1001.]

26.60.060
Domestic partnerships created by subdivisions of the state.

26.60.090
Reciprocity. (Effective unless E2SSB 5688 is approved at the November 2009 election under Referendum Measure 71.)

A legal union of two persons of the same sex, other than a marriage, that was validly formed in another jurisdiction, and that is substantially equivalent to a domestic partnership under this chapter, shall be recognized as a valid domestic partnership in this state regardless of whether it bears the name domestic partnership.

[2008 c 6 § 1101.]

26.60.900
Part headings not law — 2008 c 6.

Part headings used in this act are not any part of the law.

[2008 c 6 § 1301.]

26.60.901
Severability — 2008 c 6.

If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

[2008 c 6 § 1302.]