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New Colo. Law Adds Benefits For Unmarried Couples

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Jul 1, 2009 5:33 pm US/Mountain

New Colo. Law Adds Benefits For Unmarried Couples

Reporting
Terry Jessup
DENVER (CBS4) ― We all hope our life and death decisions are made by the people we love most. The state of Colorado on Tuesday made it easier for residents to make sure such choices about unmarried partners are honored.

Gov. Bill Ritter signed the bill in April. It gives unmarried couples the right to enter "designated beneficiary agreements" that guarantee many of the rights usually reserved for husbands and wives.

The new law is the first of its kind in the U.S. It went into effect Tuesday and many couples couldn't wait to sign up.

Debra Gettings and Patricia Yarrow of Denver have been together 10 years, and after signing up as each other's designated beneficiary, now they have added legal security as an unmarried couple.

"This is just such a relief," Getting said. "It's a wonderful thing."

"This isn't just for same sex couples. It's for any unmarried adults who want to be able to provide for and take care of each other in times of crisis and need," Yarrow said.

Before Tuesday the only recourse for people who couldn't or didn't want to marry was to spend thousands of dollars in attorney fees to draw up a variety of documents for end-of-life decisions -- everything from inheritance to health care to hospital visitation.

Among those signing up Tuesday with his partner was Colorado's newest state senator, appointed to a seat in Denver.

"This isn't just a new legal document, these really are matters of life and death that we're talking about, and this will touch the lives of many, many Coloradans personally," said Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver.

The cost of filing a designated beneficiary agreement is around $20, depending on the county.

For Gettings, who is a second-year breast cancer survivor, Colorado's new law will ease a lot of her worries.

"I was worried I'd be hospitalized a long period of time and Pat wouldn't be able to visit me," she said. "I was worried that perhaps I'd be seriously ill and be put on life support against my wishes."

The new law is not being embraced by everyone. At the Capitol several lawmakers, along with the Colorado Springs organization Focus on The Family, were saying the law is nothing more than a "back-door incremental step" towards legalizing same-sex marriage, and they are very much opposed to that happening.

Hawaii is the only other state to offer a similar law. The biggest difference is that Colorado allows one person to designate another as a beneficiary even if that designation is not reciprocated.

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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