Same Sex Couples and Retirement Planning

Mombian has a recent post highlighting articles on gay parents. One in particular comes from the Washington Post and discusses the various challenges same-sex couples face regarding retirement planning, such as:

• Social Security benefits - Same-sex couples can't get survivor benefits, nor can the lower earning partner get the additional benefits available to married couples while they are both living.
• Medicaid complications - Since medicaid is needs-based, a person must show they have few assets to qualify.  A married couple isn't forced to sell the house to cover expenses as long as one person lives in the house.  Unmarried couples don't have that protection.
• Health insurance - Some companies provide health insurance coverage to domestic partners, although it's treated as taxable income. If only one member of a same-sex couple is allowed to be the legal parent of the couple's children, only that parent will be able to cover a child under employer-provided health insurance.

These are just a few examples. The legal backdrop of laws protecting married couples in these situations doesn't apply to same-sex couples.  There are ways to work around many of the problems, but obtaining what comes routinely to married couples may involve lawyers and financial planners, and more money out of pocket.

Read the Washington Post Article here.