New York’s Marriage Equality Act (the act) took effect on July 24, 2011. The act itself is simple: It allows marriage licenses to issue to same-sex couples and recognizes all same-sex marriages legally performed in any of the seven U.S. jurisdictions that expressly allow it.
Less simple is how same-sex spouses will manage their day-to-day financial and legal affairs in the wake of the act. As discussed in a prior article,1 the act confers only state benefits. Since the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defines “marriage” as solely between a man and a woman, and permits states to prohibit same-sex marriage and/or refuse to recognize same-sex marriages validly performed in other states, no federal legal rights are available to same-sex spouses. Same-sex spouses will continue to be excluded from federal support and protections such as the unlimited marital estate-tax deduction, social security, and the ability to gain citizenship based on marriage to a U.S.-citizen spouse until DOMA is repealed.
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