Benefits and Burdens of Marriage Under Maryland Law: An Equal Opportunity Study January 2007
Introduction In light of the increasingly controversial public debate about marriage, the 2005 State Convention of the Maryland League of Women Voters approved a two-year study “of legal disparities between married and unmarried partners under state laws,” with an outlook for work that would include but not be limited to laws relating to family, support, death, real estate, and health. As such, the study is to include both unmarried heterosexual partners and same-sex partners. The controversy in Maryland, as well as at the federal level and in other states, has dealt almost entirely with same-sex partners, and very little or not at all with unmarried heterosexuals who live together as a family. As explained in this “fact sheet,” however, the legal status of an unmarried heterosexual couple is identical to that of a homosexual couple. Although a heterosexual couple may choose to marry, they have no rights or duties as a couple until they do so....
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